The Single Sister

Names that just won't be.

2011-05-25T09:20:00.003-05:00

Ever hear a baby name and think awwww, that's a cute one. Then combine it with your last name (or future last name in my case) and giggle? Here is a list of names that make me giggle.

Paisley Pearson

Parsons Pearson

Posey Pearson

The more I think about a baby girl name Paisley, the more I like it. Maybe that's just because I know it just won't be with a last name Pearson.

New Blog

2011-05-19T14:20:00.002-05:00

Here it is, my wedding blog. Not sure what kind of stuff you'll find on this new blog of mine. But either way it will be all wedding. :)

thesinglesistergetsmarried.blogspot.com

We'll see if I'm any better at updating this one.

What happened next...

2011-01-12T12:49:00.009-06:00

Wednesday after the big engagement I went to bed with visions of milk glass vases, pink and orange flowers, and wedding dresses dancing through my head. It had rained all afternoon and Mark had brought up the radar on his phone and said, "Hey look at this, this storm is going to track over us all night and not move." "Oh wow," was my response, eager to get back to thinking about my future wedding dress.

And we slept. And it kept raining. I mean it really rained. Like 100 year flood rain. Epic Rain.

We woke up the next morning, not realizing anything was out of sorts. Mark left for work while I was in the shower and called when he got to the freeway. "Say, you should check the basement. I noticed they were pumping water from the sewer on our street."

I ran down to the basement to find wet carpet, wet cement, wet everything. Is it coming in from the walls? No, from our floor drain. Storm water had pushed its way up through our floor drain. Great. At some point in the night we had enough water to at least cover every inch of our basement floor, we still aren't sure how high it got that night but it had receded and was only pooling up an inch around our floor drain by morning.

Call Mark, come home we have water.

Call Dad, ummm how do we get water out of our basement?

Call insurance, we have water.

Call rental company in town, do you have any portable sump pumps? Stop laughing, really do you? No?

Call rental company #2 in town, do you have any portable sump pumps? 1 left? Hold it, I'm on my way.

30 min later I come home (with the last portable sump pump in town) to find this:

What was just a wet floor when I left the house was now 3 inches of storm water over our entire basement, both finished and unfinished parts. Our sump pump that we have is now running like crazy, pumping water out from one side of our house, we get the other pump set up and ran the hose up the stairs and out the door on the other side of the house and Mark started bailing water out by the bucket full. It was like bailing water out of the Titanic, no progress was being made, but we felt like we were at least trying to do something. At the highest, we measured 7 inches of water in our basement. Even with the pumps going, it just kept coming in from the floor drain.

Here are some pictures we took for insurance. At this point the water was still rising.

We started to grab the electronics to get them out of the way of the rising water. But when we picked up the BluRay player (which is on the second shelf) it was water logged. We have a feeling that the water had been much higher in the middle of the night. The only thing we managed to save from the basement was the TV. And Ruby, luckily she was up on a couple of tables so we didn't have to find out how long a hedgehog can tread water.

This is the floor drain that was the cause of all the trouble. And our washer and dryer that had to go bye-bye. That black stuff you see on the floor? I swear our floor wasn't that dirty, thats dirt from the storm water coming in. Ewwww. Finally around 2:00 the drain started acting like a drain and not a geyser and the water went away fairly quickly.

I don't remember how many inches of rain Owatonna saw in those couple of days. Hundreds of homes were effected, dozens were lost, some business were forced to relocate. Roads were closed. I hadn't thought of it before but there are only 3 ways to get across town: Hoffman, Bridge St., and Hwy 14. Hoffman was closed, completely covered in water. Bridge St. went across the flooded river. When I went to work Friday morning the water was still rising and had covered the bridge. They were letting 1 line of cars cross at a time. Police and national guard were everywhere. "Center of the car over the center of the line!" was all you heard over the rain drops and sloshing water under your car. Not many people considered the 3rd option, Hwy 14, it was Friday and it had been closing for construction every weekend. Thankfully they kept it open, it was my only guaranteed way home from work that night!

Here is an arial shot of part of a flooded owatonna.

Thankfully after the drain started working on Thursday, we didn't have anymore water in our basement. And an equally big sigh of relief, we had opted for the higher sewer back up insurance plan. We were going to be covered by insurance, let the cleanup begin.

Water mitigation came in and tore up the carpet, treated everything, and put air movers and huge dehumidifiers all over the basement. We finally got our hot water heater going again by Monday and were able to take hot showers. We also had to get a new furnace and were able to get that installed before it got too cold. New carpet and a front loading washer and drier came shortly after.

It's now January, and we still have some cleanup tasks: redo the insulation in the finished part of the basement, put paneling back up (cleanup guys treated it and said it was still okay to use), and get some new doors for the basement. You can clearly see the water line in the white door. We are still not sure what the future is for the basement, we had it set up as a home theater, but I'm a little nervous to do this again. Maybe after the spring we can see how it goes and if we have any close calls.

If it had to happen it couldn't have happened at a better time. We had the ring paid off, we still had some cushion in savings from the house credit to use to pay for those big ticket items before insurance reimbursed us, and we weren't in big time wedding planning mode. It was definitely a test in our ability to stay sane in a mini-crisis. I'd say Mark and I passed.

The Engagement

2010-10-31T13:34:00.005-05:00

I've picked this post up a couple of times, tried to put what has happened in the last...oh...4 months into words. It fails me every time. So here I am, hoping that Brooke will sleep for just a few minutes longer so I can possibly finish this post once and for all!

I know posting has been pretty scarce over here at The Single Sister. I know you all know things have been happening over here at The B&P household. Some of it has been fun, some exciting, some downright miserable. All of it blog material, but it doesn't leave me a lot of time to actually blog about it.

The #1 news at The B&P household. The news that will force me to come up with a new blog title? The news that I'v been doing a horrible job at keeping a secret? Mara put it best, "Worst kept secret ever!"

~~I'm~~ WE are engaged!

Yeah, I know, none of you are surprised. But that doesn't put a damper on the excitement, right?!? And everyone reading this probably already knows. This is big. I mean, I'm going to have to change my blog name, big. ;) I'm going to have a husband. Big. I'm going to have a step-daughter. Big. Wow, that just sounds weird. Step-daughter. I'll have to process that one later.

When did this happen? Oh, like 4 months ago. Why has it taken me so long to update? I'm lazy. I can no longer use the wait-till-you-see-what-happened-next excuse. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Want the how-did-he-do-it-? story? Here it is:

I knew, I've known for over a year. I knew right away that I wanted to marry this man. We half jokingly, half not so jokingly, had our wedding date picked out in the first week or so that we were together. Ok, so it really did start out as a joke but in the months to come we realized it wasn't a joke anymore, that we wanted it to be reality.

Over the last 6 years or so every time I imagined how I would become engaged for some reason I pictured it being a complete surprise to me. I imagined dating a guy for a year or so, most likely living with him, and having him surprise me with a ring. "What? I didn't know this was coming!"

Yeah, right. Why I thought this fit my personality, I'll never know. I guess thats how I saw it played out on TV and in the movies. I'm more of a take charge kind of gal. I want to know what's coming and when its coming. I wanted to find the one, get married, and have kids. Of course I'm going to know when I meet the one, and I'm probably not going to sit around and wait and see if he feels the same. :)

A month or so into our relationship we started talking about rings; ring styles, colors, sizes, etc. Talking about it turned into internet searches to explain the styles I liked. The concept of halos and emerald cut baguettes were new to him. No Mark, a baguette isn't a crusty loaf of french bread. ;)

Looking online turned to wanting to see the styles in person. The first time we looked was on our trip to Duluth. That trip turned into more trips, a quest to make sure we found the right one. By Thanksgiving I had told my family. By December we put a setting on layaway in hopes that we would have the whole thing paid off by the next fall. I had told Mark early on that I wanted to have been together for at least a year before we were technically engaged. Formality, I guess.

January we took a trip to the wedding fair to see if our dreams of a New Years Eve wedding in 2011 would be possible. Would venues fill up quickly with holiday parties and weddings? Would prices be too expensive since it's a holiday? Things were looking good. Now to just pay off that ring, still keeping that Fall time frame in mind. I always wanted to be able to announce my engagement at one of the family crafting weekends we have in Wisconsin.

Mark kept asking me if it was ok with me that I knew it was coming, concerned that I would feel like I missed out on the big surprise. To me finding Mark was the big surprise, I knew I wanted to marry him. Now I just wanted everyone else to know.

In May we had the opportunity to buy a house, does this make sense? Should we keep renting to save money for the ring and the wedding? We went for it, best decision ever, even after what happened a few days after our engagement...

Ok, so finally the engagement. I knew when the ring would be paid off. I had us on a pretty tight budget to get it paid off. I wanted that ring dam-it! LoL

For a couple of days after I knew that it was paid off, I would frisk Mark as he walked in the door, looking for a ring box, trying to figure out if he would have had time to run up to Shane Co after work. On Tuesday the 21st of September he proposed to me, on one knee, in our living room.

I knew it was coming, I knew the ring by heart, and it was still perfect.

Baby Shower Cookies

2010-09-01T16:19:00.002-05:00

Friend and coworker of mine, Amber is having twins in a few short weeks. Twins! A little girl, Corie and a little boy, Finn. We had a baby shower at work for her today and of course we made it a food day to celebrate in the only fashion we know how, by eating massive amounts of food.

Erin had found this sugar cookie recipe by i am baker and shared it with me when she heard of my plans for Brooke's 2nd Birthday Party (you'll just have to wait and see). I decided to try it out and make ducky cookies for the baby shower. They turned out so well, I had to share.

Aren't they cute?

Know what is even better? They are delicious too!

Not wanting to leave Corie and Finn's big brother, Gunnar, out I made him a set of cookies that spelled out his name and packaged them up for him. You can't really see it in the picture but the baby frog on the right even has eyelashes and and a pink mouth to be the baby girl frog.

Our House!

2010-08-17T19:57:00.011-05:00

Finally. It's been 2 months since we closed on our house and I have pictures of the things we accomplished on the main level. I call it "Tier One Complete". When we started to talk about what we were going to do to the house we had to come up with a tier system. We couldn't get it all done right away and had to decide what was necessary, tier one.

Here are the before and after photos of what we've accomplished on the main level.

Kitchen

Before:

After!

New countertop. New stove. New backsplash. New sink. New cabinet hardware.

Newly painted cabinets. Inside and out.

After!

Yes, we went orange. :) We wanted to go bold in our color choices for the house. I think we accomplished our goal. Like my Ikea dishtowel curtains? I love em!

After!

The backsplash project was tedious. We quickly realized the value of a good caulk adhesive.

But I love the results.

After!

More Ikea dishtowel curtains. I'm proud, can you tell?

After!

Close up of the new cabinet hardware. This was a tough choice. We agonized over this choice for weeks, longer than the choice to buy a house! We had 25 doors and 5 drawers to buy for and you could easily spend $6 a piece if you weren't careful of what style you fell in love with. So it was tough to keep to our budget of $3 a piece. The hinges were originally black/gold. I hated them but hated the thought of buying new ones even more so I was determined to find pulls/knobs to both match the black/gold hinges and stainless steel/silver kitchen. Thankfully Mark came up with the idea to spray paint our old hinges. I was skeptical at first but he talked me into it and it turned out wonderfully!

Dinning Room

Before:

After!

I'm a little unsure how I feel about the light blue color on the left wall. I'm wondering how it would look in the brown color.

After!

See, I said we wanted to go bold with the color.

Living Room

Before:

After!

Brook standing in her diaper watching TV?

As Pioneer Woman would say, I'm just keeping it real. ;)

After!

Samantha solved our question as to what to put over our mantel. It has always bugged her that I never had a clock in my living room, so she gave us one! A super cute one! You can't really see it in this picture but the brown is a vinyl wall decal of branches and a bird with numbers around the outside. Then there is a clock mechanism that you place over it.

After!

We have my old computer desk sitting right behind the couch as a sofa table. We'll do some baskets under there to store Brooke's toys.

After!

As you can see by the naked shelves, I still have some decorating to do. My box of picture frames hasn't been uncovered yet. This blue color is the same as the large wall in the dinning room that I'm not sure about. I do like it in the living room, it make me feel like I'm inside one of those old blue canning jars. But I'm not sure it fits in the dinning room.

What do you think?

What's on Tier Two and Three?

Laminate flooring in the kitchen and dinning room, bar height table and chairs for the kitchen and new vanity and floor in the bathroom.

Hopefully coming soon, pictures of the upstairs complete. We still haven't finished Tier One projects up there...

In Progress

2010-08-17T18:26:00.003-05:00

Guess what? I finally have some "after" pictures of our new home to share! But before I do I figured I'd share a few "in progress" shots we took.

Our first task was the kitchen. I knew right away that I wanted to paint the kitchen cabinets white. I've always loved the clean look of white cabinets and since we definitely didn't have the budget for new cabinets, we tackled the process of painting them ourselves. And a process it was.

As we started to take things apart we realized what shape the cabinets were in and how badly they needed painting. The insides of the cabinets hadn't had attention in years. At one point they had been painted this lovely seafoam greenish color.

Shelves and walls were covered in contact paper. Oh how I've come to despise contact paper. It was like traveling through time when you looked at all the patterns they had. The leaf pattern you see below was the 90's edition. We also had the white geese from the 80's, funky bright green floral/clover from the 70's and a classic silver and white pattern from the 50's. The fun part came when we realized that the contact paper on the wall was to cover the crumbling plaster. That white spot you see below? Crumbling plaster. Yay!

Our solution to crumbling plaster? Plywood. I think a few contractors, and cabinet makers out there just collectively shuddered as I said that. It probably wasn't the proper thing to do, but it worked.

Now onto the bathroom. This wasn't so much of a project as an interesting tidbit of information. Here we have our old medicine cabinet. I'm a fan of big mirrors myself and this cabinet was pretty old and dated so we wanted to replace it. Well after hearing what my dad had to say, I was a little timid to replace ours. Have you ever noticed the slot in the back of your medicine cabinet?

Like this?

As soon as my dad saw that he said, "I bet there are a bunch of razor blades in the wall back there." Whaa, why? Apparently my Grandpa always told him that's where razor blades were meant to go when they were dull so they wouldn't hurt anyone in the garbage. At first I wondered how this could be true since, where would they go? Just into the wall? That couldn't be, there isn't any sort of receptacle that they are stored in for easy removal later.

I wondered if this was something that my Grandfather had been told by his father and told my father and was assumed to be true.

Then my coworker found this: The Concept of Away.

I guess it was all true. A designer back in the day thought it would be a great idea to give people a place to put their old razors. Maybe he had been cut one too many times from old dull razors while digging in the garbage? Growing up in the 90's and in the middle of Reduce Reuse Recycle and knowing that away isn't away, this is an odd concept to hear.

And now we come to the fateful moment. Are there razors in our walls? Did the previous owners of our house shove years of dull rusty razor blades down the back of the medicine cabinet?

(Here is where I could show Mark what our walls were actually made of. Living in a 100 year old house is new to him.)

All clean, no razor blades!

The previous owners must have known that away wasn't away. Or maybe their fathers never told them what that slit in the back of the medicine cabinet was for.

For that we are thankful, I'm not sure our tetanus shots are up to date.

Dear Sir,

2010-07-04T23:44:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry Mr. Neighbor, but I'm not going to shovel up the bunny nest in my yard with three tiny baby bunnies and dump it in the gutter.

I appreciate your concern for our yard. I understand that the "soil will die" and our grass will be brown in that spot. I understand that we are over run with bunnies and many people see them as pests. But the hippy in me can not stomach the thought of shoveling breathing, living, baby animals into the sewer.

While I'm not going to go to the extreme and bring them into my home and bottle feed them as Samantha wanted to do. I'm going to put the nest back together, leave it to nature and hope that the mother will come back despite Henry's* scent all over the place. Google says that the mother will in fact still come back to care for her babies even though the nest has been tampered with.

On a side note. I know I've neglected posting pictures of the house. I was going to do a big "before" post. But now I think I'll do before, and after pictures in the same blog post. That seems more fun. ;)

Stay tuned!

(yes I feel better after my mini rant)

*Samantha and Chris's black lab

Hopefully this will be the last.

2010-06-01T10:09:00.007-05:00

That is, the last rent check I will pay to a landlord. (I have to add the disclaimer that Mark is actually paying this months rent, so technically the last rent I paid was in....April? This way we don't have to give the mortgage people an explanation as to where that random sum of money in my account came from when mark deposits money for the months bills. Nothing like having your checking account watched by big brother. Thankfully Mark works with our Mortgage guy so he's been taking care of this aspect.) Anyways, the point is, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

No more rent!

La La La, La La La!

Yes, we bought this house. This lovely 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, 2200 sq ft house built in 1912. With a three season porch off the front, large dinning room, living room, and kitchen on the main level, original woodwork, brick fireplace (non working), half finished basement, fenced in side and back yard, and a 2 stall garage in the back.

Yay! We close in the middle of June and plan on moving the last weekend in June. Yay!

I didn't really want to bore you guys with the suspense of house hunting, offer making, inspections, appraisals, etc like I did last time. Although that would have given me something to blog about in the last few months instead of leaving you guys hanging.

Long story short, I've been tired of paying rent for a while now. Tired of not having a yard for Brooke to play in, tired of taking my laundry to a laundry mat (correction: tired of sending Mark to the laundry mat), and most of all tired of not being able to do what I want to my surroundings.

A coworker happened to be looking online at houses for sale in Owatonna one day and I thought, hey, I can afford that. And with the deadline of the $8,000 tax credit looming Mark and I jumped into house hunting. I believe it was our second day out looking we found a house that I fell in love with, and after a few minutes of convincing, I had talked Mark into it. I really fell in love with this house. I even started mentally decorating it. So we made an offer. They countered. I continued to mentally decorate. We made another offer. They countered again (Here is where I put in a mini rant about how they kept countering higher than their original counter and at one point had their counter offer over the asking price). It essentially came down to the dang barn garage and the couple thousand dollars that it was going to cost us to repair the roof to satisfy FHA financing appraisals. We backed out.

A couple of days later we did find our house. Coincidentally it's only two blocks over from the first house we put an offer down on, same house number even, and on the same street that we live on now. Initially it didn't have the same charm for me that the first house did. But it quickly grew on me when I looked past how they had it decorated and laid out to how I would decorate it and the thing we would do to it.

We made an offer and they accepted. It was inspected and nothing major was found. Thankfully the inspector put Mark at ease with buying a 98 year old house. He said it was a very structurally sound house and he even knew the previous owners who had it for 30+ years. The appraisal happened with only a slight hiccup when it came to the garage roof. He wanted to see the damage to the south side of the roof repaired. Mark and I chose to just have the south side replaced and the sellers agreed to pay the cost. So now the south side of the garage roof doesn't match the rest, but we'll worry about that in a few years. It doesn't look tooo horrible. ;)

Now that just leaves us with packing up, closing, and then we'll start some painting projects before we completely move in at the end of the month!

I'll post some "before" pictures when we close and even more "after" pictures when we complete our projects.

Ok, that ended up not exactly being a short version of the story. Sorry. :)

Easter Weekend

2010-04-04T09:35:00.003-05:00

Easter weekend is hardly half over, but I couldn't resist sharing some cute pictures from the first part of our Easter weekend.

Saturday turned out to have some sunny warm moments so we took advantage and headed to the park.

Brooke thinking she's pretty funny.

She's right.

Saturday night the Easter Bunny came and left a fun looking basket.

Sunday morning Brooke had fun discovering what was in it. When Mark first brought her into the living room and set her down, she did her trade mark "Zzsssat? Zzssat?" pointed, and ran....straight past her basket to the remotes on the couch.

Well, not the reaction we were looking for but she soon saw the goodies that waited for her and had fun pulling each thing out.

We spent the morning playing with bubbles,

eating yogurt covered raisins,

and bunny fruit snacks.

Now it's off to Forest Lake and St. Paul to see our families. I see more food and more candy in our future.

Happy Easter everyone!

Miss Brooke

2010-03-12T19:21:00.002-06:00

Just a few shots of Little Miss Brooke taken with my new (to me) camera. They aren't perfect, but it was fun to play around with some photoshop brushes and Pioneer Woman actions.

Remembering Old Traditions and Creating New

2009-12-25T09:13:00.004-06:00

I know it's been pretty quiet around The Single Sister lately...ok, it's been neglecto-blog of epic proportions. It's been a busy couple of months starting with meeting Pioneer Woman, then Mara's Birthday Party, Thanksgiving, the Mega Recital/Twin's Birthday Party/Bergeron Christmas Extravaganza, and lots of cooking, Christmas shopping, and pottery classes in between (hopefully I'll have some fun projects to share with everyone soon). And through everything Mark has been a trooper, going along with the crazy plans, and enjoying every minute of it. I hope. :)

Since I've kind of taken over the last two months with my family's plans I told him he had me all to himself over Christmas. We decided to have a quiet Christmas Eve in Owatonna, then Christmas Day head up to the cities to pick up Brooke and spend the day with his family. Well that quiet Christmas Eve didn't start out so quiet.

It started with waking up to someone knocking on our front door and ringing the doorbell at 1 in the morning. We didn't make it to the door, but saw a police officer walking back to his car. Whaa? It had snowed quite a bit and our cars were parked on the street. See, Owatonna does even odd street parking during winter to eliminate the need for snow emergencies. It takes some getting used to, but it's really not that much of a hassle. Till this morning. It was the 24th so we should have been on the even side. But there has always been a No Parking Thursday Morning sign (for the street sweepers)....and the 24th was a Thursday so we were parked on the other side of the street. All we could figure was the cop was warning us that our cars were going to be towed if we didn't move them. After some sleepy grumbling about No Parking signs vs. even odd parking Mark decided to move our cars to the back driveway of my apartment. (awww, my hero! LoL) We wanted to be sure that we wouldn't end up starting our Christmas Eve day with getting our cars towed...

Which leads to Marks part of the story...

How I became the 'talk' of Walmart Owatonna on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. I met a coworker at Walmart this morning so we could carpool to work this morning in her Honda Pilot (I was going to WM after work). Since the snow was covering the parking lines, I made sure to park next to the cart corral. When she dropped me off after work, I couldn't find my car. Fearing that my car had been towed, I walked into Walmart to ask customer service if they had towed any cars this morning completely expecting them to have no idea what I'm talking about. When I asked the woman at customer service, she immediately said, "oh no, are YOU the owner of the green Taurus?" Then, another customer service rep (mid-customer mind you) says, "oh wow, I think someone must of hit your car this morning and pushed it into the lane of traffic. It was backing up traffic for about a half hour this morning...customers were all complaining and everyone was talking about it!" She continued, "let me call Greg the Manager up here, he knows all about it". She calls Greg, "Greg, the guy with the Taurus is here". I meet Greg. Greg: "I think someone hit your car and pushed it into the lane of traffic". I explained that my car, with it's many dents and holes just looks like it had be hit, but that it probably wasn't. He then said, "we figured the car was stolen or abandoned based on how it looked and the fact that the doors were unlocked"..."we have you on video tape parking at 7:30am and leaving in another car"...Long story longer... apparently I must have parked my car in the middle of the traffic lane in the WM parking lot this morning, which caused several customer complaints, and got the attention of what seems like every WM employee, which resulted in my car being towed. I was most embarrassed when Greg said "you were right in the middle of the lane! I couldn't believe it! I even took a picture if you want to see it!"

He didn't want to see it. After getting his car out of the impound lot (thank god we were able to get it out before they closed for the day and closed for Christmas....and the weekend...that would have been one hell of an impound fee...probably more than the car is worth!) I said you should have asked to see the photo....and asked to get a copy to put up on peopleofwalmart.com. I love Mark, but his car fits right in with the things you see on peopleofwalmart.com.

Mara put it best: "So after getting up at 1am (!!) to move cars to not get TOWED, it got TOWED from the Walmart lot???? The event is unfortunate, but the timing is hilarious!!"

After the excitement of the day we settled in with some wild rice soup (made from a mix, easy, nothing like my Mom's) to watch A Christmas Story (I still stand by my thought that CJ looks an awful like Ralphie). We did some cooking for Christmas Day with Mark's family; raspberry rave, and pecan pie. Later we ate cookies, drank homemade egg nog, and opened presents. All in all it was a good day despite the bumpy start.

This morning we opened stockings (yes, we were cheesy and did stockings for each other) and are hoping that the weather will cooperate and let us drive north to the cities to continue our Christmas festivities.

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's to remembering old traditions and creating new ones! Well except for the towing part, we don't need that to become a tradition.

Just following orders

2009-11-22T21:41:00.008-06:00

Ok, so any of you who are facebook friends with me know what I was up to on Saturday.

I met Pioneer Woman!

Along with 550 other people crazy enough to stand in line for hours just to have her sign her new cookbook.

What time did Mark and I get there? 9:20

How many people were ahead of us? 3 including Erin

What time did they start handing out wrist bands? 10:30
What time was Pioneer Woman scheduled to appear? 1:00

Yeah, we stood in line for a while. And Mark was there for it all. I was pretty surprised when he told me he wanted to come to the Pioneer Woman cookbook signing. He was a little surprised when I told him we would be leaving at 8 in the morning on Saturday. "But I thought it didn't start till 1?"

He was a great sport about it, hung out with us girls the whole time. At one point I look into the sea of people behind us and all I could see were chicks.

Finally after much anticipation, she appeared. And was just as nervous as we were.

After answering a few questions from the crowed she settled in and started signing. She was so sweet, I found myself tongue tied as I sat with her. She asked Mark if he got to go shopping while we waited in line and we said nope, he was right along side me the whole time. She suggested I cook something for him.

I should have added that Mark is usually the one that does the cooking so I would definitely have to treat him to something from her cookbook.

Seeing Erin's cheesy grin made me feel better about the crazed smile I have on my face in my picture. We were a little giddy to be meeting her.

As I was waiting to meet Ree I suddenly found a camera in my face and a familiar looking woman asking me if she could ask me a few questions. She asked me what I liked about The Pioneer Woman and how I felt to be meeting her. The following is the video segment that was on Fox9 news that night.

My 15 seconds of fame! Ha!

So before I knew it, it was over. I meet Ree, got some books signed, got a free adorable t-shirt, and Mark got to see a new nerdy side of me. The day didn't end there. My coworker, Mark and I got some sushi, then mark and I went to see New Moon, did some shopping and headed up to Mara's for the "Diego & Mara's Parte de los Nombres de Muchos". Lots of chic stuff? Yeah, that's what I was thinking. But Mark seemed to enjoy every minute of it.

I think he's a keeper.

And because PW told me to, I made him her buttermilk biscuits this evening to go with our dinner. Mmmmm...so tasty. This cookbook is awesome. Allot of it can be found on her site, but it's so beautifully done that I think it's worth having in print.

As Erin put it, another must do item to check off the life list!

*Photo Credit* All photos were kindly "borrowed" from my wonderful sisters blog: LeFebvrePartyof4

Cotton Mansion

2009-11-11T12:51:00.006-06:00

After dragging Mark to the great north woods, on Sunday we wandered over to Duluth for a couple of days. A few weeks ago we found this place online:

Cotton Mansion

And we knew we had to stay there. It was built in 1908 and still has most of the original interior. Initially we went to Duluth to see the sights but we didn't want to leave this beautiful place!

Center staircase that greets you when you walk in the front door.

Everywhere you looked had beautiful touches like original silk wallpaper and ornate lighting.

The main floor had three grand fireplaces like this one in the living room.

More unique lighting, these were every 8 feet or so going around the living room.

The dinning room where we had (amazing) breakfast every morning had the

original hand carved table and chairs that were built at the same time as the

dinning room using the same wood and same carving styles.

The library with another marble fireplace. We spent a lot of time in here reading.

Mark relaxing.

More library.

Our room with the gas fireplace and views of Lake Superior from both windows.

Our bathroom had the original sink, bathtub, and toilet.

The owner even had to give us a toilet flushing lesson when we checked in.

Even though we didn't want to, we did manage to leave the mansion to do some sight seeing. We drove up to Splitrock Lighthouse and on the way back stopped at Betty's Pies for some lunner.

Proof that we did leave the mansion:

It was a great few days and I would highly recommend the Cotton Mansion Bed and Breakfast for a relaxing getaway. The owners were friendly, accommodating, and you rarely saw anyone else except at breakfast. You really felt like you were at home and could dream what it could be like to live that kind of lifestyle in 1908.

Bringing the Boy Home

2009-11-08T12:32:00.004-06:00

Right of passage for couples: visiting where we grew up. Check.

Since Mark is a cityboy and grew up in the twin cities area I've already seen where he grew up and have meet his family. And while Mark has met my family, we hadn't traveled north to visit where I grew up. We were wanting to see Duluth before schedules started getting full of holiday activities so we decided to head north this weekend.

And what a weekend to pick to travel to northern Minnesota to visit my dad before heading over to Duluth. Deer Hunting Opener. But really traffic wasn't too bad heading up, and the local place with the best burgers and Brew City fries was even pretty quiet for a Saturday evening. We just won't venture too far from the house without blaze orange.

It's funny to show someone where you grew up and the things they notice. We drove by a sign and he remarks: "Deer moose?" I believe my brother-in-law also commented on that sign when he first came north with my sister. "What's a deer moose?"

Driving along the dirt road approaching the house I grew up in he adds, "You were right, you did live in the middle of nowhere."

We've been here less than 24 hours and we do notice one thing. How relaxing it is up here. We are so used to visiting his parents in the city and wanting to go here and pick up something, and got here to check something out, run to costco and stock up on something.

But I bet the deer aren't as relaxed.

Think you know what you are getting?

2009-09-25T16:41:00.005-05:00

I love getting flowers at work. When I was in school, I loved getting flowers during class. I guess I've been pretty spoiled in that department over the years. I know most people think it's a waste of money but it just brightens up the day and adds a little bounce in my step when I see them.

So last week at work I was called to the front desk and these were waiting for me:

Awww...the boyfriend got me flowers. So I took a picture with my phone and sent it to him with a huge thank you attached. Well a few hours later I get a text. "Are there roses in that?" Hmmm....nope. "How about pink lilies?" Hmmm...nope. So he sends me a picture of what he ordered from 1-800-flowers:

Wow...definitely not what I received. Now, we both understand that what you order isn't going to be EXACTLY what you get but lets recap.

He ordered these:

I got these:

Those two bouquets aren't even in the same price bracket! So naturally an email complaint was sent detailing what he ordered and what I got. I will give 1-800-flowers credit, they did respond quickly and sent him out a $20 gift card and said they would have the local florist redeliver the correct bouquet.

I like where this is going. I could be getting flowers all week! So the next day arrives and I get another phone call from the front desk. I walk up there and these are waiting for me:

Seriously? While I will say I think these are cuter than the last bunch (there isn't a carnation in sight) it still is definitely not what he ordered. No roses or lilies in the whole bunch. I think a florist just pocketed some cash from this deal.

So another email was sent this time with picture attachments. The response back wasn't as accommodating as the last one. Their response was the florist didn't have lilies in stock so they give them permission to substitute with something comparable to fill out the bouquet. Which, ok I can understand. But really? You didn't even have any roses? And what we got wasn't nearly worth what he spent. Mark was pretty disappointed in the whole thing and wasn't going to take that as a last response. So a phone call was made and a full refund was finally given.

So what did we get? Two bouquets of flowers, $20 gift card and the knowledge that when you order from 1-800-flowers you won't get what you ordered. Not in my town at least.

Hello Internet,

2009-09-07T00:44:00.005-05:00

It's me, The Single Sister. Only, I'm not so single anymore.

Yes, the heavens aligned, I must not have walked under any ladders, crossed any black cats, and the last mirror I broke must have been 7 years ago. I have a boyfriend.

Wahhoooo! It feels good to finally be able to say that. Here, I'll do it again. I have a boyfriend.

*tehehe*

Anyways, thats not really why I decided to break my neglect-o-blog streak.

These cupcakes needed to be shared. Look like normal chocolate cupcakes and buttercream frosting? Nope. They are Chipotle Chocolate Cupcakes with an assortment of frosting.

In the middle is Vanilla Chipotle Cinnamon Buttercream. To the right is Chili Chocolate Cinnamon Buttercream. And on the left is plain Cream Cheese Buttercream frosting.

I will admit that I have the typical midwestern tongue. I normally don't like spicy things. I buy my salsa mild. But the boyfriend's birthday is on Monday so I wanted to bake him something and he enjoys things on the spicy side. The Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcake I had at my cousin's wedding shower came to mind. After a quick internet search I found a few recipes that I figured I could tackle:

Chipotle Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcakes from vanillagarlic.com

and

Bakerella's Chocolate & Vanilla Chipotle Cream Cheese Frosting

They were delicious. He loved them. I've only been brave enough to eat the plain cream cheese frosted ones. The cupcakes have enough heat to them for me, I don't think I could handle the added heat from the frosting. He loved the hot frosting ones though. What does a Chipotle Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcake taste like? It tastes like a chocolate cupcake with a warm after taste. The frosting, from the little that I sampled, has a more chipotle smoky flavor. It's definitely a different cupcake experience. Know of someone that enjoys a little heat? These are a must to try.

The next adventure: The Single Sister goes camping. (For the first time in almost 10 years.)

Stay tuned.

Catchy Tune Tuesday

2009-07-28T08:57:00.004-05:00

I'm starting a new feature here at The Single Sister. Catchy Tune Tuesday. The internet if full of them,

random songs that just won't get out of your head. I've decided to post one every Tuesday for your

~~torture~~ enjoyment.

And for my first catchy tune I bring you Chimpanzee Riding on a Segway. I dare you to listen to it at

least two times and NOT get it stuck in your head all day. Last week it wasn't an uncommon sight for

me and my coworkers to be dancin in our seats humming this tune.

This may or may not be my new ring tone on my phone.

Mortified or Amused?

2009-07-26T20:10:00.002-05:00

I learned an interesting piece of information this evening. I'm not sure whether to be mortified or amused by it. I've mentioned before that The Roomie is the manager of my favorite clothing store. My friends and family have given up asking where I got an article of clothing...they know the answer. 90% of my wardrobe is from this store.

And apparently I'm among this store's top 100 customers. Scratch that, I'm among THE TOP 10!

Barely. I am #10

Good gracious. This had better come with some perks.

Domo Arigato

2009-06-23T11:21:00.007-05:00

On the upside I now know how expensive it is to travel on the Express way in Tokyo Japan for a day. Approximately $90.83, including the foreign currency conversion fee (which is between .02 and .28 cents per transaction).

How do I know this? I don't think I wrote about this in a previous blog, just random blurbs on facebook. But a few months ago my debit card numbers were electronically stolen. Wells Fargo noticed strange activity right away and called me to verify, closed that debit card, and issued a new one. Pretty painless right? Sure I had to go a week or so without a debit card, they erased the charges fairly quickly, they just sat pending so it never effected my account in the first place. Kinda scary, but no real damage done.

Fast forward a few months to last night and I'm checking my online banking and see a charge from Tokyo JP on June 1st. WTF? Then another one, and another, 23 in all. Followed by 23 "Foreign Curr Conv Fees". They are all small increments of money - $1.05 being the smallest and $11.55 the largest amount.

At first I think "Not again!?!?" Then I see that they all have the last four digits of my OLD debit card. The one that was canceled two months ago. How does that happen?!?! Sure someone is out there with these stolen numbers trying to use it. But why did Wells Fargo let the transactions through when it was obviously a cancelled debit card? I called WF and started the claims process. I'm sure in a few days the money will be credited. But the operator didn't really seem to have a good explanation as to why they went through in the first place.

Today a coworker was looking at the transactions and noticed they all said "JPEXPWAY" - Japan Expressway. It looks like each small transaction was a different toll both on the Expressway in Tokyo Japan.

Well I sure hope someone had fun traveling around Tokyo Japan on June 1st on my dime. 908.3 of them to be exact.

The Single Sister hits the river

2009-06-07T22:00:00.010-05:00

The Single Sister got a taste of the good life this weekend. A little wine and relaxation....on a "boat"...on the Mississippi. I use the term "boat" loosely here. This isn't any kind of boat this girl saw in the lakes of northern Minnesota woods growing up. This was a 50 foot, three bedroom, two bathroom, yacht that you could live comfortably on. We were trying to determine all weekend if this boat was bigger than our apartment or not.

I'll back up and give a back story on this "boat". The Roomie's parents have their friends Jon and Marcia. I've heard lots about them in the past year but hadn't really met them yet. And I've also hear about their "boat" and hadn't met it either. This weekend I did both. The "boat" had been up near Stillwater for the winter and they were going to bring it down the Mississippi River to southern Minnesota where it will stay the summer. Jamie and I jumped at the chance to come along to help. Er...yeah...we just wanted to come along to "help". Wouldn't want to make Jon and Jamie's dad to ~~have all the fun~~ do all the work. So this is how our weekend played out:

Saturday AM - Left Owatonna for an hour and a half drive to Jamie's parents.

Saturday Midmorning - Got out of Jamie's car only to jump into her parents car for another ride back north to Stillwater.

Saturday Afternoon - Make it to the boat and spent the next hour or so making sure everything works. Ok, so this was mostly Jon and Rich making sure everything worked.

Saturday Mid-afternoon - We finally pull away from the marina near Stillwater. Jamie's mom and Marcia took the vehicle back south so it was just us and the guys.

For those of you who were in Minnesota on this rainy Saturday, you'll probably recall that it was rather cold and wet. It was even colder and wetter out on the river. But I won't complain, it was a blast.

Jamie and I settled into our sweatshirts, blankets, and beverages (wine for me) and enjoyed the rainy ride. In the below pictures we are on the top of the boat which is covered and they had it mostly enclosed so rain wasn't falling in.

The Roomie

The Roomie and I

Captian Jon and his...First Mate, Rich. Correct sailing terminology?

Around dinner time we anchored and Rich made us tuna and steaks on the grill. It was fabulous.

This is still the upper part of the boat where we spent most of the time despite the elements.

There was a full kitchen below (even a dishwasher!) but also this grill and mini fridge upstairs.

Further downstream we docked in Prescott Wisconsin for the night and decided to hit the town and see what the nightlife was like. It was actually a hopping little town. We visited a couple of bars, and played some pool and darts (Rich and I won both games of pool and Jamie won the dart game).

Our view from the dock...of course our view of Wisconsin was a bar...

Jamie and I slept in the "passion pit". It's the name they give to the front most bedroom on all the boats they've had. I don't really need to have anymore of a backstory on that one. The sate room was the second bedroom with a bigger bed and there was a third bedroom with two tiny bunks in it.

Sunday morning - We crawled out of bed (some more willingly than others, I won't name names) and it finally had stopped raining so I was able to get some real pictures of this "boat".

View of the back.

And this is a full side view of the "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!!" Nice, huh?

The sliding patio doors go to the main level with the living room, kitchen and dinning area.

You can make out Jon and Jamie on the upper deck where he drove from and where we hung out most of the time. Under the main level is where the three bedrooms and two bathrooms are.

While taking pictures from the dock, we noticed this sign. "4 Hour Docking. Max Boat Length 35 Feet"

Ooopps...pretty sure we surpassed both...

Jon's getting ready to shove off...guess I should stop taking pictures and get back on.

Goodbye Prescott Wisconsin.

I guess I should point out here that so far we had actually been on the St. Croix.

In this picture you can see the Mississippi on the left joining the St. Croix on the right.

Jon even let us drive! See the random hand? That's Rich...he wasn't feeling so chipper.

That cozy area in front is where Jamie and I spent most of the time covered in blankets.

I learned lots: while going downstream you want to keep the "red nuns" to the left and "black/green cans" to your right (buoys), the Starboard side is the right and Port is the left, how to put out bumpers, and even how to go through a lock and dam.

Here we are leaving the lock just north of Red Wing.

They put Jamie and I to work holding the ropes.

I think I can honestly say I didn't really know how a lock worked until today.

Here is the inside of the main level while we were cleaning up.

Behind Jamie is another area where Jon can drive the boat. He was even telling me he has a remote control where he can steer the boat if he has to be at the front of the bow.

Sunday afternoon - Whew....home at last. We figured it was a full 24 hours on the boat. (Well minus the few hours at the bars in Wisconsin)

One last look at the beautiful "boat".

We made it. Survived the bars in Wisconsin. Didn't catch hypothermia. We didn't crash the boat, even with Jamie or I driving. (There was even a moment Jamie and I looked behind us to discover that no one was driving the boat. Jon had just disappeared! We weren't too concerned since we were on Lake Pepin at this point and were waaaay far away from anything.)

Sunday evening - Jamie and I drive back to Owatonna.

I had an absolute blast this weekend. Incredibly relaxing despite feeling so worn out by the time Jamie and I got home. We figured we didn't really stop moving the entire time. Thanks Jon and Marcia!

(maybe my facebook updates will make a bit more sense now? LoL)

I'm in Love

2009-05-15T16:11:00.004-05:00

No, I'm not in love with a boy.

I'm in love with these shoes.

Are the comfortable? No

Do they match with everything so I can wear them everyday? No

Are they so incredibly adorable that I couldn't resist buying them? Yes

I know I haven't updated in a ~~month~~ while. And as usual I have no good excuse. There have been dates with new boys. There have been break ups with new boys (I was even asked why I wasted his time, p.s. we went out on two dates). There has been a quick trip north with Samantha for her sister's prom. She went to Grand March, I went to watch my cousin play lacrosse. The Roomie and I have gotten ourselves sucked into Dancing With the Stars, we've yelled at the TV over LOST, and turned into cry babies during Grey's Anatomy. It's finally turned into sandal weather so I've been painting my toes hot pink and adorning them with daisies. And I think that pretty much sums up my life this past month. Nothing too exciting going on. It seems like I'm always busy doing something, so it looks like this summer is going to go by way to fast.

Easter Cake Pops

2009-04-13T21:16:00.009-05:00

I spent a whirlwind Eater weekend bouncing around in the cities. Friday was spent baby sitting the boys and then Saturday I went up to spend some time with the girlies. Then back down to spend Easter with the LeFebvre's. While I was visiting the girlies we took them to see the Hannah Montana movie (must be said with a high pitched girly scream), and made Easter Cake Pops.

Reagan focusing on her egg pop.

Rylee making sure she gets enough pink sprinkles on her egg.

Thank goodness that we had help from the neighbor kids, we worked on them for quite a while and we still had a bunch to do well after they lost interest. Our batch of cake pops made 56!

All wrapped and pretty. I think this is even after we sent a bunch next door.

Chicks man. (I guess this only makes sense if you watch The Soup on E!)

White chicks too.

And Easter eggs.

And it just wouldn't be Easter without a furrowed unibrow egg head.

Or is it a W for whatever?

Wonder Woman?

Adam Sandler?

Not Done

2009-04-10T17:01:00.001-05:00

Trying out a new look for my blog.

I'm not done yet...just running out of time...

Hopefully a complete new look coming after the weekend.

Winner

2009-04-10T09:57:00.002-05:00

Or at least I'm one of the winners. There were lots of cool eggs entered and the judges picked three winners. Two other gals from the design department won the other prizes. One with a leopard painted egg, and the other with an incredible silk-tie dyed egg. Apparently if you take a 100% silk necktie and wrap it around an egg and boil it in water and vinegar the colors transfer to the egg. She had a really pretty brown and orange patterned egg as a result. I may need to try that next year. Or next week, Jamie and I still have a dozen eggs in the fridge.

Easter Eggs

2009-04-08T23:22:00.002-05:00

My work is having an Eater egg decorating contest and these are my entries.

And Jamie thought we were just dyeing eggs tonight...

She doesn't realize how involved I get in a project.

First kiss? At the movie theater.

2009-03-27T17:01:00.002-05:00

It was 1998, the summer right before my 9th grade year. Those who know me, probably remember who I started dating that summer. Those who don't, lets just say that you're probably better off not knowing who I'm talking about.

We went out on a "date" to see the movie Ever After. I use the term "date" pretty loosely since we were too young to drive and had to have parents escort us everywhere. Anyway, I remember having a sore throat and not wanting to share a soda because I didn't want to get him sick.

Well we held hands *gasp* through the movie and during the scene when Drew Berrymore and Dougary Scott sneak away to a secluded hideaway and to where they may share a first kiss, my date turns and looks at me and says, "If you're sick, then I'm sick." and kisses me.

That's my first kiss.
Incredibly cheesy line? Yes.
Did it make my 14 year old heart melt? Yes.
Makes me queasy to think about it now? Yes.

What's your first kiss?

I wish it weren't oh so true...

2009-03-26T16:36:00.001-05:00

My favorite line from '10 Things I Hate About You'

2009-03-20T17:01:00.001-05:00

"I didn't care about the money, okay? I cared... I cared about you."

If this line was said by anyone other than Heath Ledger, it just wouldn't have the same ring to it. The way it comes out of his mouth in his Aussie accent. *sigh* Dreamy.

This is one of my all time favorite movies from High School. So may quotable lines:

"Don't for one minute think that you had any effect whatsoever on my panties."

"She’s meeting some bikers. Big ones. Full of sperm."

"I still maintain that he kicked himself in the balls."

"Remove head from sphincter, then drive!"

Alright, so looking at them now, out of context, these seem kinda off the wall. But I still maintain that I love this movie and all the one liners that have been known to be said around my friends.

How to Get Along with Me

2009-03-16T21:34:00.005-05:00

A coworker sent me this link to an Enneagram personality test that I thought was pretty interesting. It's made up of 36 questions that poses a choice between two statements and you choose if you feel strongly for a, moderately for a, no preference, moderately for b, or strongly for b. At the end it rates you on the 9 personality types:

1. Reformer - I do everything the right way.

2. Helper - I must help others.

3. Motivator - I need to succeed.

4. Romantic - I am unique.

5. Thinker - I need to understand the world.

6. Skeptic - I am affectionate and skeptical.

7. Enthusiast - I am happy and open to new things.

8. Leader - I must be strong.

9. Peacemaker - I am at peace.

Depending on your which personality types you scored the highest in, reveals your personality. I've taken personality tests before, but I don't think I've ever gotten results that fit so perfectly to me.

I am a 5 the Thinker/Observer:

How to Get Along with Me

Be independent, not clingy.

Speak in a straightforward and brief manner.

I need time alone to process my feelings and thoughts.

Remember that If I seem aloof, distant, or arrogant, it may be that I am feeling uncomfortable.

Make me feel welcome, but not too intensely, or I might doubt your sincerity.

If I become irritated when I have to repeat things, it may be because it was such an effort to get my thoughts out in the first place.

Don't come on like a bulldozer.

Help me to avoid my pet peeves: big parties, other people's loud music, overdone emotions, and intrusions on my privacy.

What I Like About Being a Five

Standing back and viewing life objectively.

Coming to a thorough understanding; perceiving causes and effects.

My sense of integrity: doing what I think is right and not being influenced by social pressure.

Not being caught up in material possessions and status.

Being calm in a crisis.

What's Hard About Being a Five

Being slow to put my knowledge and insights out in the world.

Feeling bad when I act defensive or like a know-it-all.

Being pressured to be with people when I don't want to be.

Watching others with better social skills, but less intelligence or technical skill, do better professionally.

Fives as Children Often

Spend a lot of time alone reading, making collections, and so on.

Have a few special friends rather than many.

Are very bright and curious and do well in school.

Have independent minds and often question their parents and teachers.

Watch events from a detached point of view, gathering information.

Assume a poker face in order not to look afraid.

Are sensitive; avoid interpersonal conflict.

Feel intruded upon and controlled and/or ignored and neglected.

Fives as Parents

Are often kind, perceptive, and devoted.

Are sometimes authoritarian and demanding.

May expect more intellectual achievement than is developmentally appropriate.

May be intolerant of their children expressing strong emotions.

If you have a few minutes take the test here: The New Enneagram Test

And after the test is scored check out the descriptions here. (Click on what it says under "Type of Descriptions" to get the definition.)

Leave your results in the comments. I'm curious what type you are! Do you feel its accurate? Turns out my coworker and I are both 5's.

Year in Review

2009-03-16T15:14:00.002-05:00

Like I mentioned in my last post, I've now had this blog for a year. Now that I'm a year older and my blog is a year older I've been thinking about what's happened in what feels like such a short time. I figured I'd post some of my favorite (or even not so favorite) posts to summarize the last year.

March:

First Blog Entry - Like with everything, I had big grand ideas. New header every month, a weekly photo, horrid dating stories, etc. Weekly photo? Ha! New header? Ha! I haven't even changed the header once. I should update though...

Trip to Arizona - Pictures from my trip to Arizona for my friends wedding. It was a blast, and I really want to go back. Looking at the pictures makes me want to go back even more.

April:

My Addiction - I admit that this single sister enjoys her shoes. And I will admit now that my shoe collection has grown. How many pairs? I'm too afraid to count.

May:

Dating - I start dating again and as I type that I realize that May started my horrid year of dating. Lets hope it was just a year and things will turn around this coming May.

Dating Fail - The first of many to come...

The Single Sister gets a new addition - The single sister says "Screw dating, I'm getting a hedgehog!" Jamie and I also like to mark this occasion as the day our "Adopted Love Child" brought us together. The random trip to Mankato to get Ruby finally is what made Jamie realize that it wasn't weird that we dated the same guy and we've been friends ever since.

The Single Sister finds out just how small the online dating world is - It honestly is...this guy then went on and started talking to Jamie after we mutually called it quits.

June:

Never realized how much fun a toilet paper tube could be - Funny video of Ruby

July:

Is it time for The Single Sister to move up in the world? - I start thinking about if its time to stop renting and make my stay in O-town a little more permanent.

Nope, she's not - After a lot of back and forth I decide that the townhouse wasn't going to be in my near future. And a house wasn't going to work either.

ANOTHER addition to the Single Sister household....another single sister! - I get a Roomie! Ruby just wasn't satisfied as an Adoptive Love Child until her "parents" were under one roof.

August:

We did it and we didn't die! - Jamie bring the dare devil out of me and gets me to go on the Slingshot. Check out the video. It still makes me laugh. We were just discussing that we might need to make this a yearly occurrence.

September:

She's here - The Roomie moves in...its official.

September Updates - I take Diego to Valley Fair and we both go on our first roller coaster ever. And I say goodbye to one guy and hello to another...only to eventually say goodbye.

October:

Apparently October was pretty dull...nothing noteworthy.

November:

I'll revise that last statement, apparently I just had a case of neglet-o-blog. I update October here with tales of scrapbooking and halloween.

Yet another addition to the single sister household - At least this time it wasn't a living breathing thing. We get a wii and things haven't been the same since.

December:

I told you I had a shoe problem - I even wrote a Haiku about them. Update - I did buy new shoes to replace the broken ones.

Ruby says Merry Christmas - and isn't too happy about it.

January:

I find out the family curse does get passed down - and I really am as klutzy as my sisters. Update - its been 2 months and I still have a slight bruise, bump, and it still hurts to touch.

February:

I take a break from my Dating Strike - Not sure if it was a good thing...things didn't really work.

10 Rules for Online Dating - Annoying things guys do on dating sites.

5 Rules for Going Out to the Bar with Jamie - Its never dull with the Roomie around.

March:

Nothing exciting to report in March. Well, I did turn the big 25 a quarter of a century and won a blog giveaway on one of my favorite blogs (no, it wasn't a pioneer woman giveaway...but close). And I was able to finally find a wii fit to purchase (so much fun).

My summary on the last year? Romantically disappointing but grew a lot personally. Lets hope for some better results in the romantic relationships next year. I may have coined myself as The Single Sister, but I don't want to stay that way.

Happy Blog-Day To Me

2009-03-10T10:29:00.004-05:00

Ok, well this is a few days early. But it is the 1 year anniversary to The Single Sister blog. AND its also my 100th post. Happy coincidence right? Over the next couple of days I'm going to post links so some of my favorite posts of the year marking The Single Sister milestones.

But first, I have to keep up my blog karma and make good on a promise to the blog gods.

*BLOG DISCLAIMER* Any men that I'm related to may want to advert their eyes to the rest of this post. Or anyone else that doesn't want too much information. Dad? READ NO FURTHER!

Sarah Nielson - Tales of Wit and Charm

Visit her, she's a blogger that lives in Utah, she has a one eyed pug, she's funny, and a single sister like me. She's on my daily blog tour.

Why do I mention her? She started doing blog giveaways and I've been entering. This last one was for a $65 gift certificate to (this is where you shouldn't click the link, DAD. TMI ALERT!) Eden Fantasy's.

AND I WON!

When I first entered the contest I commented that I was going to be selfish and not tell my friends about it because I wanted to win. But if I did win I would spread the word about her blog. So thats what I'm doing. Check her out!

I'm fulfilling my blog promise to the blog gods.

Thanks Sarah and Eden Fantasy's you made The Single Sister happy on her blog-birthday!

*still doing a happy dance*

SO ACE

2009-03-04T19:25:00.002-06:00

I'm sure we've all had our complaints about the DMV, like my friend said "They don't have a bad reputation for no reason." My experiences with my local DMV have certainly lived up to the reputation.

When I first moved here I went before work one day to renew my license, of course they were closed. So my next opportunity I took a half day off of work to run some errands, specifically to renew my license. I arrived around 1:00, and what do I see on the door? "We are closed today for Agnes's funeral." I didn't know who Agnes was and I'm sorry that she's no longer with us, but I was pissed. The ironic thing was that I lived on Agnes Street at the time.

Every year after that I found it easier to just renew my tabs through the mail. Sure it took longer and I sometimes risked not getting them in time. But anything was better than having to go back there.

But in February I realized that both my license and tabs expired at the beginning of March so I figured I'd suck it up and go to the DMV. I happened to have a doctors appointment one afternoon and I was out of there unusually fast (10 minutes later I was dressed and back at my car, I'm not exaggerating) so I figured I would try my luck at the DMV. I was hopeful, it was only 4:00 and I knew they closed at 5. I pulled up. Closed. WTF?!?! Damn, its Presidents Day. Saturday was going to be my only option, and it went surprisingly smooth. No one was crabby, the line wasn't too long, etc. Sweet success.

That is until I got my new license today:

Emily B*******

555 SO Random ACE

Anywhere, MN 55555

(address changed for the protection of, well, me)

SO and ACE? WTF? Its supposed to be S and AVE. Someone at the DMV didn't have their Wheaties that morning.

I'm moving to Arizona, you only have to replace your license every 12 years there.

Birthday Weekend Phase Two and Three

2009-03-02T10:48:00.003-06:00

Phase Two: Birthday dinner with family and friends. Check

Well - half of my family and friends. Samantha, Chris, and the Bain Train minus Mara, and I went out to dinner at Azia in Minneapolis. The Roomie ended up having to work and Mara came down with flu symptoms. Jason, Diego, and the girls were troopers with the choice of asian restaurant with lots of fishy things on the menu . Although it sounded like a trip to McDonalds was in the near future for the kinders. Thanks for coming everyone!

Phase Three: Actual Birthday. Check

Brought Birthday treats to work - Fruity Pebble Rice Crispy Bars. Mmm-Mmm-Good. Made tacos for dinner with the roomie, and she surprised me with a cake. Also very yummy. Diet? What diet? That word doesn't exist on your birthday.

Topped the birthday night off with a very dramatic Bachelor finale. I can't process it all at the moment. I expect Lost to melt my brain, but not this!

All in all my birthday was a success. Thanks everyone for the birthday greeting! I've determined that facebook really does make birthdays better!

Birthday Weekend Phase One Complete

2009-02-28T03:08:00.002-06:00

Eat favorite pizza (pepperoni and green olive from Taste of the Big Apple), and stay up late playing video games: Check

5 Rules About Going Out To The Bar With Jamie

2009-02-21T01:23:00.004-06:00

1. She will always find someone to get us free drinks.

2. Jamie is not allowed to find random rides home - we only live three blocks away.

3. Snow angles will be made in the front yard...wonder what the landlords will think of that.

4. Jamie needs to wear Uggs for the snowy trek to the bar. Flats will make your feet wet.

5. Jamie will dance if pulled out onto the floor by strangers...and booze...

P.S. No injuries to report tonight. I didn't fall down the stairs this time. Sweet!

The Single Sister's 10 Rules For Online Dating

2009-02-18T23:06:00.003-06:00

1. IM (instant message) me using full words. Using actual full sentences will get you bonus points. As you can already tell, I'm no English major but let's at least write at a 7th grade level.

2. No baby talk. Ever.

3. No, I do not want to see your web cam or naked pictures.

4. No, I don't have a web cam or naked pictures.

5. Asking me what my favorite color is, isn't going to give you any valuable insight. It's just going to tell me that you are kind of clueless.

6. Seriously? I'm not going to talk about sex when we haven't even met.

7. No, I'm not going to meet you so we can talk about sex.

8. Post a picture. Call me superficial but I'm not gong to talk to you without seeing your picture.

9. Don't come on a dating site to try and sell me vacations or get me to join your pyramid scheme.

10. Be genuine and honest. That's all we want.

Ever wonder what it's like to be single again?

2009-02-18T00:00:00.006-06:00

Just watch "He's Just Not That Into You" and you'll get the general idea.

And then you'll be glad your not dealing with it anymore.

Suzy Home Maker

2009-02-12T22:32:00.003-06:00

I saw these the other day on bakerella and decided to give them a try. I wanted to do something fun and decided this looked a little too ambitious. So easier alternative here I come. Only the grocery store didn't have red velvet cake mix so I used strawberry and I didn't make my own frosting...and I decided to cut the cookies into heart shapes then make them into sandwiches (yes, with my store bought frosting). And since I was doing pink and white sandwich cookies I bought vanilla and strawberry Cakesters and cut them out using a smaller cookie cutter.

Aren't they cute?

New Career Path?

2009-02-12T12:47:00.005-06:00

The Roomie sent me a text yesterday: "I don't plan on getting married any time remotely soon...but will u help me when I do?" She's been getting to hear (along with anyone else that will listen) all about the wedding planning progress that Samantha and I have been making. I sometimes wonder if I've been too involved in this process, but then I hear Sam say "We need to decide on this..." and I'll ask her, "We as in you and Chris or we as in me and you?" She'll stop and ponder, "Well I suppose it should be me and Chris, but lets be real, its me and you."

The process has been something like this: Sam and I will discuss, strategize, come up with a game plan and options then Sam will run it by Chris. Usually he really doesn't have an opinion. He just doesn't want butt bows or boob bows and has given me full veto power. Which I have utilized.

So back to the text message, it got me thinking. This has been fun, maybe a career in wedding planning is in the future. I'm already getting experience in assisting in dress buying, venue viewing, fielding freak-out phone calls, determining trashy vs. classy, searching the web for $1.60 tacos and Fish! graphics. But then again, this is also for my BFF. I'm less likely to strangle her when she decides that she not only wants fish on her invites, but real photos of goldfish. Ms. Neurotic-Stranger-Bridezilla? She wouldn't get the same amount of patience and probably doesn't stand a chance.

I think I'll stick to my day job and leave the bridal planning to friends who ask for help and my own someday. On the up side? Sam gets to be the guinea pig and we'll be pros by the time I go through this.

Sam, through fish photos and all I really have been enjoying this. Thanks for letting me be apart of it all and having me as your maid of honor. Love you!

Now I'm Hungry

2009-02-10T11:05:00.003-06:00

After just reading thehansonhattrick and reading about the yummy recipe that she posted not only did it make me hungry but it reminded me of a fettuccine alfredo recipe that I made this weekend with the apple boy. Now don't turn up your nose at it when I tell you this. But guess what? Its a light recipe. And guess what? Its actually pretty good. And even better? I don't feel like I ate a gallon of butter, cream and cheese when I'm done eating.

Ingredients:

8 oz. fettuccine noodles, uncooked (half the box)

1 1/4 cups 25%-less-sodium chicken broth

4 teaspoons flour

1/3 cup Philadelphia light cream cheese spread

3 Tablespoons 100% Light Parmesan Grated Cheese divided (yes, the stuff in the can)

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Cook pasta as directed on package.

Meanwhile, combine broth and flour in medium saucepan. Stir in cream cheese spread, 2 tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese, the nutmeg and pepper; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with wire whisk until mixture boils and thickens.

Drain pasta. Toss with sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese and the parsley.

Servings Per Recipe: 4

And it even gives the nutrition facts per serving!

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 331

Total Fat: 5.3

Cholesterol: 10mg

Sodium: 127mg

Total Carbs: 58.5g

Dietary Fiber: 2.7g

Protein: 13.1g

In weight watchers speak its about 7 points per serving. Which isn't too shabby. When we made it this weekend we added broccoli (yes mom, I voluntarily ate broccoli for once) and apple boy made really yummy chicken to add to it. I really we skipped on the chopped fresh parsley. If I were to make it for a family I would probably make the whole box of pasta and double the recipe. Mmmm....leftovers....

Why I gave up on "The Count of Monte Cristo"

2009-02-02T10:23:00.002-06:00

Ok, I suppose this is slightly a lie. I did finish it when I read it for College Prep in High School and I loved it. The characters came alive for me and it's one of the first books where I was disappointed when I finished reading it. I wanted it to keep going.

It is the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo that I never finished. I borrowed it a few years back from a guy I was dating at the time. I eyed it on his bookshelf one day and I figured I'd give it a shot since I loved the story in High School.

I don't even think I made it as far as The Count finding the treasure and I lost interest. That unabridged version is long!

I still have the book, never had the chance to return it when Mr. Twin-Gun (Sam and Chris's nickname for this guy) ended the relationship. I think about starting it every once in a while but I haven't actually done it.

Maybe some day.

Ice Skating

2009-02-01T19:40:00.010-06:00

The dating strike has gone into negotiations...Sam and Chris went on a double date with the Apple Boy and I. Sam, Chris and I figure that we hadn't been on ice skates in 10+ years. So we knew it was going to be pretty entertaining. It was slow going...especially for Chris. And only one of us fell...it was Chris. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Chris trying to regain his balance...Me and Apple Boy trying to look cute...

Me and Apple Boy

Chris and Sam

Chris discovered that having Sam pull him worked the best.

Meet Plinky

2009-01-30T16:23:00.002-06:00

Its been kinda dull round these parts lately. I needed to spruce things up. Plinky to the rescue!

Its kinda like updating your facebook status, twittering, and blog prompts rolled into one. It adds new prompts daily that you can answer and then have the option to posting them to your blog. (Like I've done below.)

Maybe this will get me to post more often. Life is dull when your on a dating strike. But that however may be coming to an end. A double date with Apple Boy, Samantha, and Chris may be on the horizon. It looks like ice skating will be the activity...which will inevitably lead to more falling down, and more bruises. (Two weeks later and my shin and ankle are still bruised and tender up from the last fall.)

In defense of my vice:

2009-01-30T16:22:00.002-06:00

My vice is easy, blogs.

A friend, Sarah, turned me onto this little blog known as Dooce.com. Sarah and Dooce popped my blog cherry. Then she started telling me about other blogs, and those blogs lead me to newer blogs. Now, I have a daily blog tour that keeps growing!

thepioneerwoman
-confessions
-cooking
-photography
dooce
bainblabber
lefebvrepartyof4
thehansonhattrick
sarahnielson
mattlogelin
blurbomat
icanhascheezburger
-ihasahotdog
-roflrazzi
-totallylookslike
-punditkitchen
-onceuponawin
-failblog
cakewrecks
bakerella
mightygirl
dailycoyote

And then! There are the blogs that I revisit once a week, or month, or so...
verygeorge!
garfieldminusgarfield
thisisindexed
damonmandatuttle
...and numerous others

See, I have a problem. But thats ok. For people who don't understand blogs I always explain it like this. Most people read as a hobby, a way to relax, a way to pass time, a way to be entertained. Most people read magazines, books, etc. I read blogs.

What makes a good blog that makes me coming back?
1. I know the author (bainblabber, lefebevrepartyof4, thehansonhattrick)
2. Good, humorous writing (thepioneerwoman, dooce, sarahnielson)
3. Great photography (thepioneerwoman, dooce, mattlogelin, blurbomat, dailycoyote)
4. Unique/heartbreaking/captivating situations that keep you coming back for more (mattlogelin, dailycoyote)

I doubt that I will ever quit.

Three overplayed songs I love anyway

2009-01-30T16:20:00.001-06:00

These are three rather new, overly played songs that I can never get out of my head but I crank up the volume every-time I hear any of them.

Hot N Cold by Katy Perry

It fits perfectly for so many situations for me at the moment.

Womanizer by Britney Spears

Britney always manages to have at least one catchy song per album..this is one of them. And every girl knows a guy she'd like to sing this to.

So What by Pink

Another classic "F***-You-I'll-Do-What-I-Want" song to add to your mean girl playlist.

Proof that the roomie and I share a brain:

2009-01-23T13:09:00.002-06:00

When Jamie and I first met and started hanging out our mutual friends started saying that we shared a brain. The first time this was said I believe Tony put it: "Wow, I'm sure glad we found Jamie's other half of her brain." As we got to know each other better we started finishing each other sentences and having those ridiculous conversations:

E: You know that..

J: Yeah, did it finally...

E: Yeah. How weird is that?

J: I know!

Last week my friend Matt observed one of those moments and just shook his head. He of course didn't understand a thing we were saying. Kind of comes in handy now that I think of the advantages.

We had another conversation the other night that confirmed that we do probably share a brain:

J: I wast thinking today and I finally [at this point for some reason my brain thought "Honey"] figured out what your hair color is.

E: What's that?

J Honey

Are you kidding me? We hadn't even been talking about my hair that day. We had been on a different subject all together prior to this (probably boys). Why did my brain randomly think Honey just as she was saying she figured out what to call my hair color. Honey isn't a normal hair description. Freaky I tell you, just freaky. Just like today when I smelled pizza seconds before our front desk lady called to tell us our pizza was here that our manager ordered for our department. Weird.

Klutz Jr.

2009-01-19T12:43:00.004-06:00

For anyone that keeps up with the Bains/LeFebvres via blog or facebook I'm sure you've noticed a trend of falling a lot. Mara even chronicled some of her falls here: Klutz with a capital K!!. And we have Erin's falling-over-a-kid-chair-with-a-laundry-basket incident, and Charlie's anti-slip-rug-fail fall at Snap fitness. Erin and I found it extra funny when setting up her Wii Fit profile that during the balance test results it asked her: "Do you find yourself falling a lot while walking?"

This weekend I was no exception to the family klutz curse. It was the Roomie's birthday last week so Saturday we went out to have a few drinks at a bar in town. Apparently the task of walking down three stairs proved to be too much for my feet. [Before I go any further I would like to add that I swear I only had two drinks in me at this point, we had just gotten there.] Somehow I manage to fall on a set of three steps, someone grabbed my arm before I could do a complete face plant: my knee hit the ground but my foot was still on the step above so my shin got caught in the middle on the edge of the step. I didn't even spill my drink, but now my shin hurts like a bi&@%.

I know this sounds bad, but I'm kind of disappointed in the resulting bruise. It doesn't look nearly as bad in comparison to how much it still hurts over 24 hours later. I never knew that socks could be painful to wear.

So here is a picture...labeled and everything. LoL

And to add to things we wanted to try on knee length bridesmaids dresses yesterday when Sam bought her dress. Perfect. I'll have to be wrapped in bubble wrap two weeks before Sam's wedding so I don't end up with bruise covered legs for the wedding.

Brrrr

2009-01-14T16:57:00.003-06:00

Isn't the temp supposed to rise during the day?

I guess not in Minnesota. In January. I've been watching it fall all day. We started at -4 this morning. We are now at -8. Just as long as we don't get to -24 like it was yesterday morning.

-24. And that not including wind chill people! Good lord.

Oh, and did you know we are colder than Alaska? By about a 40 degree difference.

When will this cold stop?!?

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T17:11:00.002-06:00

A face only a hedgehog mother could love...

Ruby says, "Merry Christmas, or else....I'll....I'll poop in your stocking!"

She wasn't too happy with me when I woke her up this afternoon to clean her cage before I left town for the weekend. And she really wasn't happy with me when I made her sit for a few photos. I was hoping to get a cute one, but I couldn't stop chuckling when I saw this one. She does not look like she has the Christmas spirit. She looks downright pissed. I suppose I would to if some yay-hoo woke me up, put me in a box, then shuffled me around and started flashing this light in my face.

So even though Ruby doesn't share my Christmas spirit. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Christmakkah, etc!

Love,

The (still) Single Sister

Haiku ode to da shoes

2008-12-23T13:10:00.004-06:00

Wobbly heel

Destined to fall off soon

Squeaky heel

Peelin soles

Pullin slippin zippers

Scuffed leather

This single sister should have asked for a new pair of shoes for Christmas.

No Advil in the last 6+ hours?

2008-12-04T19:30:00.003-06:00

That means its time to celebrate! The strep is on its way out!

For the last 36 hours or so I've been taking 2 Advil almost every 4 hours to avoid the sore throat, stiff neck, body ache, and try to fend off the throbbing headache. But I just realized that I haven't taken one since......ummm.....noon? This must be the light at the end of the tunnel. The kiwi sized tonsils are now down to a peach pit...ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. But thats how they felt!

While I didn't have quite the level of strep that Erin had back in June when she was begging for Vicodin, this was definitely the worst sore throat I had ever had. (Reading back to Erin's post, I realize strep has the ability to make grown women cry to their moms out of misery. I don't remember doing that with a cold or the flu in the past few years. But boy was I crying on Wednesday, twice.) I'm typically not someone to go to the doctor for everything, but I waited for nothing (ok, maybe I at least waited for the clinic to open) Wednesday morning to make an appointment as soon as possible. I've never had strep before but, but I knew this must be it. This level of sore throat wasn't bearable any longer. The doc did a rapid strep test and it came back positive. Whew, didn't have to go through more tests. She wrote me a note for work and a script for antibiotics and sent me home with strict instructions to do nothing for the next two days.

And that's exactly what I've done. Hopefully all the sick is done and gone. Between the cold last week before Thanksgiving, then the migraine on Friday, then thinking I had the flu on Tuesday which just ended up being strep on Wednesday...I'm done being sick!

Sexy Scents? Seriously?

2008-11-26T08:37:00.003-06:00

Its Wednesday morning at work and I'm heading down to the breakroom for a morning coffee. As I'm waiting for the coffee to dispense from the machine I see the latest People magazine on the table and its the Sexiest Man Alive issue. I start flipping through and it falls open to Michael Phelps. Well that doesn't surprise me that he's in there. Of course he's wearing his trademark low-hip-hugging-just-a-centimeter-lower-we-could-see-mini-phelps-pants. But surprisingly thats not what first catches my eye. Its the caption next to his neck saying "RUB HIS NECK to smell his sexy scent" that I first see.

What?

Seriously?

Scratch and Sniff Phelps?

I turn a page back. Yep, Chris Meloni - Scratch and Sniff. Taye Diggs - Scratch and Sniff. Chase Crawford - Scratch and Sniff.

Its a whole section featuring guys and their Sexy Scents "What fragrances make these guys feel their sexiest? Rub the pictures to find out!"

This disturbs me on many levels. First of all, who wants to be caught smelling a picture of Michael Phelps. Can we say creepy? Secondly, I get that they are telling us what cologne they wear, but it just sounds....bad. Smell his sexy scent? I guess when I read that my mind goes to the gutter.

Its just weird.

Blissfully Boring

2008-11-17T12:54:00.003-06:00

That's how my weekend went. Blissfully boring and I loved it.

Friday night was fun. I had a Splurge Party at Maurices. Invited my friends to come to Maurices after they closed and had a little shopping party. Everyone got 15% off their purchases and had fun trying on (and eventually buying) lots of clothes. Jamie had her Mary Kay lady come and give makeup tips and finally got me over my unnatural fear of eyeliner. I don't know why, but I've never learned how or tried to apply eyeliner correctly. I have a theory that my fear and timidness of eyeliner (and eye makeup in general) comes from all those years of applying HEAVY BLACK eye makeup for Danceline in high school. So I was eased into it on Friday, and I'm starting out slowly. Anyone need any Mary Kay makeup? Apparently I'm having a party on December 1st.

So that was the extent of my excitement for the weekend. Saturday and Sunday I had the apartment to myself and I did a lot of tv watching, Wii playing, and snoozing. Perfection.

Two of My Favorite Things

2008-11-14T10:07:00.003-06:00

Here are two of my favorite things...and how I managed to combine them.

Thing Number 2: totallylookslike.com

Once again, another site by the creators of icanhascheezburger.com and punditkitchen.com (making fun of all things politics). This site compares people/things and how the may look like other people/things. Ok, that wasn't a very good description. Here are some of the examples.

Otter Totally Looks Like McCain

Amy Winehouse Totally Looks Like A Trainwreck

Posh Spice Totally Looks Like Falcor From The Neverending Story

Ok, now that your familiar with Totally Looks Like. Moving on.

Thing Number 1: Grey's Anatomy

I. Love. This. Show. Period. The relationships, the gore, the medical mysteries. Its been said that this season isn't quite up to par with past seasons. But I still love it. *SPOILER ALERT (if you haven't seen last nights episode)* I love how the have managed to bring Denny back. Even thought this means that Izzy is probably coming unglued. (Writers writing her out of the show? Maybe?)

Ok, how have I brought these two together?

For you Grey's Anatomy watchers that are reading this. You know the new doctor? The tough military dude with red hair who cuts first then asks questions? Yeah, that one that totally made out with Yang? Yep.

He totally looks like Vincent van Gogh.

Ever since he (Kevin McKidd) started on the show I always picture an earless van Gough. So much so that I had to create my own look likes on totallylookslike.com. So thats my handiwork so you should go and vote on it!

Wii on the Brain

2008-11-11T08:59:00.003-06:00

Yep, this Single Sister got a Wii. And I've become a Wii Addict.

Symptoms of a Wii Addict?

Sore arms? Check

Feeling the need to exaggerate everyday tasks? Check

Suddenly wanting to battle all your friends in bowling, tennis, or beat them up in a round of boxing? Check

But I really realized this morning that I was a Wii Addict when I saw these beautiful pictures in an email this morning and the first thought that came to mind?

"That would be a wicked Mario Kart track."

Undecided? Want to make sure you voted correctly today?

2008-11-04T08:28:00.004-06:00

I headed to work early today in hopes that A. I would stop and vote on the way or B. be able to leave during the day to vote if there were long lines. Lines? What lines? I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were no lines. I was able to register and vote in under 10 minutes. Now I'm at work early killing some time in the interwebs. A coworker emailed me this site that I thought I would share with you. Its a quiz. A series of quotes from Obama and McCain on some of the hot topics and you choose which one you most agree with. In the end it matches up the quotes to the candidate and tells you who you agreed with the most.

Thankfully I voted correctly this morning according to the quotes that I most agreed with. Thanks goodness, I don't think they give do-overs at the polling places.

Check out this quiz to see where you stand.

Speedy Updates

2008-11-03T18:24:00.011-06:00

Once again I have let neglect-o-blog take over and I haven't updated in a while.

So to catch you up to speed I thought I would highlight events in the past couple of weeks.

• Amery Scrapbooking weekend. 4 days of scrapping, eating, and talking (and getting called by my sisters name the whole time. I've come to just answer to the name Erin). Pictures can be found here at said sisters blog. I do have pictures, I'm just being lazy about posting them.

• Iowa City Crop Marathon. Because I didn't get enough of scrapbooking in those 96 or so hours I attended a scrapbooking marathon with my aunt and two cousins two weeks later. The idea was to have 26.2 hours of straight scrapbooking. We were among the few people that made it the whole time out of about 50 women. We started 8:00 on Friday evening and didn't stop till about 10:30 Saturday evening. Crazy? Yeah. Fun? Yep!

• Halloween. Made a last minute decision to head up to St. Paul for a Halloween party that friends of mine where throwing at HoBR (House of Booze and Rock the name so appropriately given to their place of residence). As usual they had their specialty, wop of doom (see urbandictionary.com #7: An alcoholic beverage consisting of hard liquor and fruit. The fruit soaks up the liquor leaving a fruity tasting beverage, and very highly concentrated alcoholic fruit. Usually filled in a large tub. The fruit is eaten.). In other words: yummy and dangerous. Many people there and with lots of great costumes. Scariest one? Sarah Palin. Wow, did this girl look just like her. She had the hair, the glasses, the pearls, everything. My costume? An icanhascheezburger cat. Also known as an LoL cat. How did I do it? Simple: cat ears and tail from a costume from college, whiskers drawn in eyeliner, and a flip book I made with classic LoL captions. Still confused? Here are a few pictures from icanhascheezburger where I got my ideas:

The picture that started it all.

I figured this caption would come in handy.

As well as this one.

And we all know someone that could use this caption scrolling over their head.

conflicted

2008-10-22T22:45:00.003-05:00

As my life is pretty uninspiring at the moment my blog has taken the toll. Sorry to my few readers. Passing the time, and not unlike the habits of small children, I'm delaying going to bed: checking facebook, catching up on my reading on Dooce (watch this, its funny). As I'm reading my eyes wander to the text ad section of Dooce. These are the tag lines that catch my eye. In order: (internal monolog in italics)

Life is NOT Crap. ---- Whew, I'm glad someone sees the glass as half full.

Bacterial Vaginosis Gone? ---- Well I sure hope so, if it's not then the ad above is lying to me and life is crap.

Got snark? ---- Yes, yes I do.

Life is full of crap. ---- Ha! See, I thought so. Quit messing with my head!

Maybe its just me, but the juxtaposition of the random placement of these text ads struck me as funny this evening. Maybe this is a sign that I should just stop fighting it and go to bed.

What is a Gooseberry?

2008-10-06T22:35:00.008-05:00

On Sunday I decided that The Print Geek (TPG) and I needed to head up to Duluth. We decided that if it wasn't raining we would leave early Sunday morning. Well, it was raining but we left anyway. After a breakfast at Mickey's Diner in St. Paul we got back on the road and were wondering if the forecast of partly sunny in Duluth was really true. When the parents didn't answer, TPG came up with the next best thing. He 411-ed a McDonalds in Duluth. The whole conversation was pretty funny to watch. I'm sure the poor girl thought she was getting prank called. After we confirmed that it was in fact partly sunny in Duluth despite the torrential downpour that we were driving through we kept going. Finally at about Willow River it finally stopped raining and we made it to a partly sunny and colorful Duluth.

After a quick windy stop at Canal park we headed up to Gooseberry falls. The last time I was here was just before 7th grade and I've always wanted to go back. TPG and I definitely made sure to bring our cameras. See, besides being a Print Geek, he also knows what he's doing behind a lens and knows all the cool tricks in Photoshop that I never seem to get the hang of. The guy is like a walking tutorial, its great! :o)

So here are a few shots that I managed to get at Gooseberry Falls.

Are these Gooseberries? I have a feeling they aren't.

After one wet foot (mine) and exhausting ourselves climbing the rocks and stairs we headed to Betty's Pies. Apparently food network was just there so make sure to keep an eye out for it on TV. This is the first time eating there and it was well worth the 30 min wait. I couldn't decide between getting a piece of pie or getting it in a pie shake where they stick a whole piece of pie in to the blender and mix it with ice cream. When TPG confirmed that it would be too gluttonous of me to do both i settled on a piece of 5 layer chocolate and he had Great Lakes Crunch. Soooo yummy.

We made it back through Duluth and drove right back into the rain for a rainy ride home. Apparently Duluth had a bubble around it, they didn't get the slightest bit of rain while we were there.

It was a fun way to spend a Sunday. It did get to be a lot of driving, but it was worth it...or maybe I'm just saying that because I didn't drive? :o)

* Edit

2008-10-02T21:02:00.006-05:00

I take it back. I had introduced the new guy as The Print Nerd. Apparently he prefers The Print Geek. I mention this site to anyone that I name on here (nickname or not). I just don't want it to be surprise down the road. Of course this always carries the possibility of getting the eye roll and "oh, your one of those". This time with The Print Geek, he just shrugged he shoulders and said "Huh, I've been mentioned on a blog. That's a first." But he did want to clarify that he prefers the nickname The Print Geek. So it shall be.

He came over after work yesterday (Hey, I'm already seeing him more in a week than I got to see The ~~Good~~ Bad Weed in a month.) and we made Pioneer Woman's Tomato Basil Pizza (we made the pesto side). While it wasn't a complete flop...I definitely know what to do differently next time. The end result was rather mushy and we may have set the smoke alarms off because of some juice overflow-age in the oven. But really...when you can pick off melted fresh mozzarella with slices of tomato covered in pesto, it can't be all that bad. And lets face it. I tend to just pick off the toppings of a pizza and eat them san crust anyway.

So, second date with The Print ~~Nerd~~ Geek went well. We may even be planing something fun for the weekend. Lets hope for great wether on Sunday.

Stay tuned.

Quickie

2008-10-01T08:08:00.004-05:00

Just a quick post before I start my day.

This is the scene of my morning "commute".

I walk outside to a brisk fall morning, realizing that I'm not going to be able to go much longer without wearing a coat to work. The trees on my street are starting to turn, kids are walking to school, others are lining up for the bus stop, and the school buses are making their respective stops. Wow, where do I live? This sounds like a Norman Rockwell illustration.

I turn down Oak and head for Main Street and wham, back to the year 2008, 6 cop cars parked in a parking lot and 10 are standing around chatting. Ah yes, its the early-morning-speed-trap that the police like to set up every couple of weeks. Its convenient for them because this parking lot is blocked so you can't necessarily see the 6 cop cars parked there while you are gaining speed down the hill and two are hiding behind a telephone pole with a radar gun ready to flag you in. This scene isn't that unusual, I just kind of shake my head and feel sorry for the people who will get nailed today.

I get to the stop light at Main and make a left, past the power plant, over the bridge, over the train tracks. Why is that school bus just sitting there? I drive by and realized that a little car had rear-ended the bus when it made its "VEHICLE WILL STOP AT ALL RAILROAD CROSSINGS" stop. The hood was all scrunched up, steam pouring out. It didn't look like anyone was injured, the front of the car had gone under the bus and only the hood was scrunched up. Wait, something is missing from this scene...where are the cops? Oh! They are two blocks up and around the corner setting up a speed trap.

I know, it looked like it just happened, the cops probably hadn't gotten the call yet. They were completely unaware that anything was going on.

It was just kind of a slightly humorous start to my morning (humorous since it didn't look like anyone was hurt). Here is an accident and it appears that all of the cops on duty that day are standing around the corner, two blocks away.

And really, how do you rear-end a bright yellow school bus that has flashing lights?

Lunch Blogging

2008-09-30T12:31:00.003-05:00

I know, I know. Its been a while since I've posted. I have no excuse. Its not because things haven't been happening.

Its not as if Diego and I didn't spend a day at Valleyfair with some of my friend and had nothing to say about it or a picture to share:

P.S. My first time at Valleyfair and first time on a real roller coaster.

We had so much fun, and I had the bruises and muscle ache to prove it.

Its not like In the last week and a half I haven't had one relationship fall off the map. The Good Weed has weeded himself out. One day he just stopped texting and calling. Three days later he called only to tell me he was going to be hard to get ahold of for a while and he had to take care of some things. That was over a week ago and I still haven't heard a word form him. Just like all weeds, he had to go. Odd thing is, he doesn't exactly know this yet. It still baffles me.

And lastly, its not like a I don't have a new guy to introduce you too. The Print Nerd. He found my profile and emailed me through one of the dating sites I'm on, but don't exactly check anymore. Initially he thought I was seeing someone (hadn't changed my status) but saw that we had similar interests and wanted to be friends. His email definitely caught my eye and I made sure to set him straight that I wasn't seeing anyone anymore. We ended up chatting all night and made a date for Saturday night.

I had so much fun. We both work in the same industry and both love what we do. He calls himself a Print Nerd (so I decided this was a good nickname for him on here). He loves to travel and loves photography. What could be better? Oh yeah, he grew up in Austria till he was 18.

But this brings us to the end of my lunch and the end of my quick update blog.

Nerd Alert

2008-09-19T12:35:00.002-05:00

Yes, I'm aware that I'm a nerd. Not only for reading the following article, but for now blogging about it. Its ok, I've accepted this.

Its the 26th birthday of the emoticon!

:-)

:-(

;-)

If you've ever wondered who started the neck bending craze of showing emotion through the interwebs check this article out. You know your inner nerd wants to.

The Elusive Townhouse

2008-09-13T14:41:00.003-05:00

I haven't talked a lot about my search for a townhouse. Basically because there isn't anything to mention. I look online once a week to see if there are any new listings and unfortunately there isn't. Same three townhouses that I have already seen. Although, the cheapest townhouse did sell, or they took it off the market after a year of being for sale. It was the one townhouse we were honestly too afraid to enter.

The original townhouse that sparked my interest and made an offer on is still up for sale. Same price, except now there are new pictures up. New pictures showing an empty place. I'm guessing the renters are no longer living there. Which means the place is empty and the owner will soon have to start paying for heat in an empty townhouse.

So it makes me wonder, should a make another offer? Wait a few months before doing so? I think the Roomie's parents would kill me if I make her move so soon after moving her in. Maybe I will sit on it for a few months and think about it. I'm still thinking that a townhouse is the best path for me and my first housing purchase.

That question still lingers, is this the right place for me? Or do I wait for the perfect place to come along? I still keep thinking that this is the right place, for the right price. The right price will let me turn it into the right place with new paint, new kitchen floor, appliances, and some updating to the cupboards.

I think I will wait a few months and see what happens.

9-11

2008-09-12T11:22:00.005-05:00

I was just reading thehansonhattrick's entry A Beautiful Tribute and it hit me that middle school students were hardly in elementary school when 9-11 happened. Not only was it a I'm-getting-old moment, it also made me think of where I was 7 years ago. (I still don't believe its already been 7 years, has it? Must be.) This moment will always be one of those "Where were you when it happened?" moments.

I was in my senior year of high school and my first hour of the day was Spanish. It wasn't until the end of the hour that I heard first that a plane had hit the Pentagon. Unfortunately it was from my odd-duck (to put it lightly) teacher who was laughing about it. That still hits me every time I think about it. Why was he laughing? Maybe it was his weird way of coping, maybe he didn't know the severity of it. I heard more from people talking out in the hall. "Planes were hijacked" "World Trade Center" "Pentagon".

My next couple of hours were Art. Since the school was under construction the cable tv for the classrooms had been cut just earlier that day so work could be done. The art room was one of the only televisions in the building that still had bunny ears and could get a signal. Teachers brought their students in for the day to watch everything unfold. I watched one of the towers fall. I can't remember if it was 1 or 2. I watched as they realized a fourth plane had been hijacked and crashed in Pennsylvania. I even remember the false report of a car bomb outside the state department. I had to get away from it all after lunch so I spend the next hour in the dark room. Sam and her boyfriend provided their usual drama that day to relieve the sense of dooms day. I remember the moment it hit me that Brian was at boot camp at that moment. That his dream of being able to travel and spend time in Japan wasn't going to happen. That the furthest that he would travel would probably be the Middle East. Unfortunately that ended up being true. He thought it was safe to join, we had been at peace when he joined.

Thats my "Where were you when it happened?" moment.

What's yours?

Ren Fest

2008-09-07T22:54:00.005-05:00

Today the Roomie and I ventured over the to Renaissance Festival. It was her first time going, and my first time going dressed up. Yep, I was one of those people. And it was a blast. Who knew the dress I wore as a kid playing dress up would one day fit me and I would actually wear it on more than one occasion (it was part of my pirate Halloween costume two years in a row, make a few adjustments and its a renaissance dress, it could also easily turn into a gypsy dress).

We met some of our friends there who were also dressed up for the occasion, got our hair braided (see below), saw some shows, did some shopping, drank (some more than others), ate a turkey leg (of course), and met some new, fun people.

It was pretty cold and rainy when we first got there. It was especially cold for ~~those of us~~ me who wore a sleeveless dress, and sandals. But it warmed up pretty quickly, or was that just me and those beverages I consumed? Maybe both. While I was getting my hair braided my feet were a nice shade of purple...but it was worth it.

See?

Its a 5 strand french braid. Pretty cute, huh? I'm attempting to leave it in tonight to wear to work tomorrow. For what I paid for it, I'm going to get as much out of it as I can.

I didn't bring a camera with me (sad, I know) so thats the only picture I have of today. (BTW, do you know how hard it is to take a picture of the back of your head using a big SLR camera? It's pretty difficult.)

Speaking of pictures...I still need to get those state fair pics up...maybe that will be tomorrows task...

Letter

2008-09-05T09:21:00.002-05:00

Dear person who always gets my 20 cents that I forget in the coffee machine,

Your welcome.

Sincerly,

She-who-forgets-her-money

P.S. I remembered today so don't bother looking for it.

My Favorite Things

2008-09-04T09:43:00.002-05:00

I know hate is a strong word.

But. I. Hate. Washing. Bras.

Hate.

And I suppose it doesn't help that I have the most difficult bras to wash. Hand wash, lay flat to dry. And to top it off, these suckers take 24 hours to dry. I know, I have weird bras (Secret Embrace from VS) but I love em!

But I have made a discovery, The Bra Baby.

Ta-Da!

Tuck the straps into the inner ball and wrap your bra around it and snap it inside the bigger ball and your bra won't loose its shape in the wash. My days of hand washing bras are over. Now I can throw them in the wash with the rest of my whites and not be afraid that they will lose the shape that I pay Victoria $42 for.

Find them for $8 a piece at Target.

Tennis

2008-09-03T09:05:00.003-05:00

TGW (The Good Weed) and I played tennis last night. Well it wasn't so much playing tennis as TGW hitting balls at me and me attempting to hit them back. I think most of the time was spent chasing after the balls to retrieve them. Apparently I look like a drunk cat with ADD chasing a ball of yarn, but a determined drunk cat with ADD chasing a ball of yarn. LoL

But we had fun.

He had fun laughing at me and I had fun laughing at myself and my attempt to hit the ball.

I think I may need to get a couple of rackets and balls and get The Roomie to play with me after work.

She's here...

2008-09-01T22:15:00.006-05:00

I'm here.

I'm alive.

I know I haven't blogged much lately. I know there are updates to write and pictures to post. But I've been occupied doing other things. And when I say that I don't meant that they have necessarily been productive things. Although, I have managed to clean my entire apartment to get ready for The Roomie to move in. And I've even been cooking yummy meals for us. Turns out my theory of "I like to cook, just not for myself" is true. But most of my time between cooking and cleaning has been spent laying on the couch with The Roomie watching episodes of Project Runway, Tabitha's Salon Takeover, and even episodes of The Hills on MTV. (I'm completely guilty of watching too much reality TV lately.)

So this weekend was spent moving Jamie in so she is officially The Roomie.

Meet The Roomie:

In her words:

"We've been friends for less than 6 months,

and we are already moving in together.

If this were a relationship, it would be doomed."

She had lots of help from her family so we didn't have to do all the work. But now the unpacking is left to do. Since she manages a clothing store, she has a lot of clothes. Illustrated here in the picture below. I was being lazy and playing the role of moral support and snapping pictures along the way.

A State Fair blog will be coming soon. I meant to get those up yesterday, but blogger wouldn't let me upload my pics. What's a State Fair post without pictures of the food we ate? (Yep, apparently I've become one of those bloggers.) I'm a little behind, but what else is new?

Update Time:

Townhouse Hunt '08 is still underway. But at a snails pace. I keep checking every week to see if anything new is out there to look at, but the same 3 townhouses are the only ones up. Something is bound to come up, right? Hopefully it won't become Townhouse Hung '09. But after moving Jamie's things, we are not exactly looking forward to another move.

I haven't talked about him a lot lately, but The Good Weed and I are still dating (I really should come up with a new nickname for him). I wouldn't consider us a long-distance relationship since he's only 37 miles away from me, but it sure has felt like it! Before yesterday, I hadn't seen him in 3 weeks. Thats just entirely too long for a new relationship. But his work schedule has been crazy so I'm just hanging in there hoping things will get better. He's in town for a few days so its good to see him again. I'm hoping it will stop raining here today so we can go out and ~~make a fool of myself~~ play some tennis. He's a really athletic guy and I've always thought tennis would be a fun sport to learn so it might be something fun to do together. (Read: Its the only sport that interests me to at least try. And since its usually just played in pairs I won't have to look like a fool in front of a bunch of people or strangers)

That has been the life of this single sister lately.

I Am Woman Hear Me Rawr

2008-08-28T16:09:00.002-05:00

I discovered something kind of interesting this afternoon.

The Chief Executive of the company that I work for is number 20 on the "100 Most Powerful Women" list, according to Forbes magazine. I'm probably a nerd for admitting this, but I think thats kind of cool.

Here were a few other women that were listed below her ranking:

#28 Hillary Rodham Clinton

#35 Nancy Pelosi

#36 Oprah Winfery (this one surprised me, I thought she ruled all)

#58 Queen Elizabeth II

#62 Katie Couric

#63 Barbra Walters

#65 Diane Sawyer

My Favorite Things

2008-08-20T16:17:00.002-05:00

Yep, I now have a weird obsession with anything hedgehog. But this doesn't mean I'm going to buy everything that I see with a hedgehog on it...sorta. I'll limit myself to the really cute ones. Likes these:

My obsessive need to see blog updates paid off when Dooce featured this guy in her Daily Style section. She included the link to the etsy.com shop (great place to find one of a kind handmade items) where she got it. I know from the past that anything she features gets sold fast so I had to make a decision, there were only 4 left. It was so cute! And hedgehoggy! And pink! $26 later, its mine. 1 hour later, they were all gone (no I didn't buy them all). Score!

Even though I'm not going back to school this fall (thank god) I always enjoy roaming the back to school section at Target. It must be because I can now do it without feeling the dread knowing that my free days are numbered and I would soon have to be productive. Last week when I was taking a look at notebooks and folders I found a set with hedgehogs on them. Cute! I think you all know me well enough by now and I don't even have to mention that a notebook and a folder found their way into my cart and now are on my desk at work.

We did it!

2008-08-16T14:38:00.013-05:00

And we didn't die!

Since my last post all I was able to think about where all the possible things that could go wrong on that ride. But something in the back of my brain kept saying that I should just do it, this will probably be the only time I won't chicken out. And in the words of The Roomie, "If its my time to go, its my time to go."

I know its kind of sad, but this is the most daring thing I've ever done. I'm kind of a chicken when it comes to these kinds of things. I was never much of a fair ride kid growing up. There was that one summer that I blew all my summer allowance on the rides at the Wild Rice Festival back home, but after that summer my stomach just couldn't handle rides anymore.

So Friday night The Roomie, Derik (we drug him along for moral support), and I went to the fair and headed straight for The Sling Shot. There was no avoiding this, we were going to do it. There was also no time to think about it or the many ways that I was about to die. We paid our $50, I hugged my coworkers that met us there to watch the craziness, and we climbed the steps to what I was sure was going to be my impending death.

As you'll hear my Roomie say in the video below, the anticipation is the worst part. They strap you in and away you go, no count down or anything. You are sitting there strapped in, next thing you know your being flung through the air at over 70 mph, you see the ground getting smaller, and you see that your going past the top of the 160 foot blue towers, you just hope that the bungee will hold and snap you back down to earth so your not catapulted out to space, or over to China.

Don't get me wrong, my Roomie would love to meet ~~marry and have his babies~~ Michael Phelps, but I don't think that would be her ideal way to get over there.

Oh, and when you do fall back toward earth, you are heading head first into the ground. Then you just continue to bounce and do a few more spins (The guy lied to us and said you have to do at least one spin. As I point out in the video, there were at least 5.)

I had Derik take video with my phone from the ground so thats the first video clip you'll see. Hear that screaming? Thats ~~mostly~~ 98% me. The second video clip is the DVD of the recording of our reactions in the seat the whole time. I knew they were going to try and sell it to us, and I had ever intention to NOT buy it. But after watching it, I couldn't resist.

So here it is. Just to warn you, I do udder the c-r-a-p word a few times. I'm surprised thats the worst that came out of me. I just wanted to warn you incase there were small children or bosses around. (I know R&R would reprimand me for saying a bad word.)

Ok, enough talking about it. Watch it!

Cost to get flung @ 70 mph, 160 feet into the air: $50 ($25 each)

Overcoming a fear: Priceless

DVD of our reactions: $15
Watching ourselves screaming our heads off: Priceless

Am I crazy enough?

2008-08-14T09:24:00.002-05:00

This week is the Steele County FREE Fair in Owatonna. Apparently its the states largest FREE county fair. When I first moved down here I was always baffled by this because I thought all county fairs had free admission. Apparently not.

Last night The Roomie and I went out to the fair to get something to eat. Mmmmm Piggy Blues Loaded Baked Potato. Every year I have to get at least one of these during fair week. Its a baked potato that I swear is baked in a vat of butter, topped with shredded pork, nacho cheese, and sour cream. Sooo yummy. You can also add jalapanios and onions if you like that gross stuff. ;)

While wandering the fair with our friend Derik later that night we went to check out The Sling Shot. Have you ever seen this ride? The ride where you sit in a ball that is attached to two huge towers and you get propelled through the air only to get pulled back down by the bungee cords? Here is a video: Sling Shot

Somehow Derik and The Roomie have talked me into doing this on Friday night. I had my glasses on last night and if I was going to die on this ride (I've come up with at least three scenarios in which this happens) I want to at least be able to see it. So we decided that Friday night would be a good night to ~~die~~ do it.

Now here is the question...am I crazy enough to go through with this?

Will Work for Clothes

2008-08-08T14:07:00.003-05:00

My future Roomie is the manager of my favorite clothing store. Anyone that knows me, knows which store it is that I'm referring too. And its by pure coincidence she and I became friends and not because of all the ~~money time~~ money I spend shopping there. This clothing store gets new products in daily and the amount has only been increasing since the new fall stuff is coming in for back to school. They were struggling a bit to get everything done so she hired me for some "Casual Labor" today. Pretty much "Casual Labor" translates into "Freight Girl" which translates into "See the boxes of clothes? Unwrap, put sensors on, and put on hangers for us to put out onto the floor."

So thats what I did today for 7 hours. I made pretty good progress today. Sadly she can't hire me for a regular "Freight Girl" position since it would be a slight conflict of interest on her part to hire her friend. So today was just a one time thing most likely. Or at least until they need to catch up again.

The best part of today (or one of the best parts) was getting to do some guilt free shopping when I was done. Since she was able to pay me right away, and it was unplanned money, I just turned around and did some shopping.

7 hours of work roughly equals 2 shirts.

Not too bad.

The other fun part of my day? Getting to raid Erin's scrapbooking room. We're bartering; scrapbook supplies for jewelry.

The only down side is that I'm supposed to be downsizing on my scrapbooking supplies and moving stuff out of my second bedroom/computer room/scrapbooking room. And I just hauled a good amount of new stuff back into said room.

Jewelry Overload

2008-08-03T11:08:00.003-05:00

Wow, this week went by fast.

I'm making a spur of the moment trip to Fargo this afternoon. lia sophia is hosting a mini-convention sort of deal on Monday to show off the new line of jewelry and to to give tips on increasing your bookings. It will be a bit of a jewelry overload I'm sure. Over the last few days I've been trying to pick which new items I'm going to purchase for my display (and who are we kidding, for myself). I figured its kind of a long drive, but will be worth it to see the new jewelry before I buy it, I'll get to see my moms new "crib", and spend a few days with her. I'll be back on Tuesday and I'll try to update then:

• Pictures of the family reunion last weekend.

• New video of Ruby actually awake during the day.

• Update on The Good Weed.

• And of course I'm sure I'll be gushing over all the great new jewelry that lia sophia has.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and I'll catch up when I get back from ~~Heaven~~ lia sophia mini-convention/jewelry overload.

Something I Haven't Done Since College...

2008-07-30T13:00:00.004-05:00

...and I'm not talking about that...

...Or that either. Get your minds out of the gutters.

I'm getting a roommate.

My friend Jamie and I have decided that we both should be saving some money so she'll be moving in with me in September. And hopefully this means that after we go through all the work of moving her in and storing a bunch of stuff, I'll end up finding a townhouse and we'll get to do it all over, three months later.

I never thought that I'd be getting a roommate. I always thought that the next person I would live with would be a boyfriend. But I also never thought that I'd meet someone, my age, living in Owatonna and becomes such good friends so fast.

In the words of our friend Derik, "This is going to be interesting."

So for the next month I'll be cleaning out my second bedroom and clearing it of my computer junk/lia sophia junk/scrapbooking junk/and just plain junk that I don't want to/can't get rid of.

My Favorite Things.2

2008-07-23T22:29:00.004-05:00

I love getting lia sophia orders in the mail. I especially love when its a show order.

That means at least one box filled with little blue boxes of

beautiful things gets delivered to my door.

I get to divide them up and take a peek at what people ordered. I tend to see lots of jewelry that I think I must have.

Every now and again I can't resist and there is something that I think is missing from my ever-growing jewelry collection.

Like these earrings, small silver hoops and slightly larger matte gold hoops.

I needed them, right?

I'm glad you agree with me.

My favorite thing this week, lia sophia deliveries.

No Houses For Me

2008-07-22T13:57:00.003-05:00

I looked at a couple more houses with My Wonderful Realtor yesterday. I'll just say that anything in my price range isn't going to be livable. The house I was talking about in my post last week? Yeah, turns out there is something wrong with it. From the walls in the basement that were caving in and spilling dirt onto the floor, to the ceiling that was peeling and crumbling away from the attic. That place needed some work. It had potential...10 years ago.

I think from here on out our focus will be back on townhouses.

Just Call Me a Hippy

2008-07-18T08:31:00.003-05:00

Part of my reluctancy to buying a house is the dreaded yard work. The mowing, and gardening, and weeding in the summer. (I've done enough weeding in my dating life.) Then there is the snow-blowing and shoveling in the winter.

In my continued search for a place to live I ran across a 2 bedroom 1 bath small house thats just a few blocks down from where I live now. The outside didn't look too bad, and it was actually pretty cute. Price? 59,900 "What's wrong with it?" was my first thought. I drove by it, usually you get a good feel (or most often than not, a bad feel) from a simple drive by. Once again, pretty cute. The front bushes were a little over grown, but nothing a little pruning wouldn't take care of (here we start with the yard work).

So with a few emails to My Wonderful Realtor, I discover that its a foreclosure but the only pictures of the inside she could find were from 2004 so we don't really know what kind of condition the inside is in. It looks like they did some remodeling of the kitchen in '04 though. But really, for 59,900 its worth taking a look at.

Now to get back to the yard work, crap, I'll have to buy a lawnmower. And more importantly I'll have to learn how to use a lawnmower. Thats right, I, TheSingleSister have never mowed a lawn in my life.

So I sit here this Friday morning eating my bagel, pondering the lawn mowing dilemma.

Then it dawns on me.

Go old school with a manual push mower.

After a quick search I see there are plenty of models out there ranging in price from $100-$200. Certainly less expensive than a gas powered mower. Added benefit, its green. I'll be getting a workout, getting a tan, and saving the earth one push at a time.

Just call me a hippy.

Now only if they made something like that to replace a snow-blower...

Oh yeah, its called a shovel.

My Weekend Part 1

2008-07-15T16:32:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning I had another date with The Good Weed. After the stress and anxiety about the first date with a guy goes away I get a irrational fear that the second date is going to fail, or the chemistry that was there on the first date wasn't going to be there on the second date. And really, its not a completely irrational fear, its happened before.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Things went really well on our second date. He was already coming into town to do some Cabela's shopping so I tagged along and then we went out to eat before he had to leave town.

We have another date tonight. He plays on a couple of softball teams and had games Tuesday and Wednesday nights, so I'm heading over to Rochester after work to watch his game.

All I'm going to say about this guy is that things seem to be going really well. If I say anymore I'm afraid I'll jinx it (another irrational fear).

Townhouse Update

2008-07-15T15:43:00.002-05:00

I have decided to walk away from this townhouse deal. Something that people kept telling me is, don't buy it unless you are in love with the place. For the right price, I could turn this townhouse into a place I could love. But 83,500 (plus 5,000 closing costs) isn't the right price. The more I thought about it the more I realized that this place would just need too much work to make it into a place that i could love to own. And work = money.

So my search for the perfect townhouse continues and hopefully some more will go on the market soon.

Really soon.